Star Trek: Icarus
by BlackCapricornDay
Summary: 200 years after the Original Series, Captain Zia Rashid and the seven-person crew of the USS Icarus venture into the unexplored Galactic Core...
1. And The Stars Looked Down, Part 1

**Star Trek: Icarus**

This is my attempt to imagine what a new _Star Trek_ miniseries would be like. Enjoy!

 **Part 1.1**

 _Captain's log, stardate 136294.8. First entry: Captain Zia Rashid,_ USS Icarus _. (… it still seems so strange to say.) I have just completed a full-day briefing with Starfleet Command. Like the Starfleet oath says, Icarus will be boldly going where no one has gone before. It's a specialized science vessel configured for first Federation expedition to the Galactic Center, a region of space which has been largely unexplored because the intense gravimetric pressures make conventional warp travel impossible. Icarus is designed to be operated by a skeleton crew, and we will spend four months exploring the region and collecting data. Although I haven't met most of the crew, I'm very pleased that an old friend will be joining me on the mission._

"You know, I've been saying I'd be your chief medical officer since the Academy."

They are in Captain Rashid's condo, which is tastefully decorated with surrealist art painted by her husband. Dr. Alomar sips his wine and gazes out the window at the sea of lights that is Damascus at night. He is clean-shaven, with a streak of silver in his hair and a rich voice. "But I have to say, I didn't expect us to go to the center of the galaxy!"

Captain Rashid reclines in her chair and puts her hands together. She is wearing a comfortable smock. She has shoulder-length hair, and her dark eyes have a piercing quality. "Exciting, though, isn't it? The Core is one of the few parts of the galaxy that's still largely unexplored." She reaches into the coffee table and pulls out a vaporizer. "Unless, of course, you believe Captain Kirk's account."

"Yes, well, it's well-known that Kirk's behaviour became somewhat more… erratic late in his life. Their shield technology was two centuries less advanced than ours, and given the sheer range of phenomena that crew was exposed to, I think we can safely take that particular story with a grain of salt," Alomar chuckles. "By the way, I have something for you."

He reaches into his dinner jacket and pulls out a paper bag. "I stopped at the market in Kabul on the way here. Organic purple kush, very rare strain." He grins. "A good way to spend your last evening at home for a while."

"You know me too well, Tomas," Rashid smiles. As she loads the vaporizer, there is cheering from the other room, followed by mockery. Alomar says, "That was Carlos. Cuba must have scored. I'm a bit concerned that this game is going to cause a rift between our husbands."

"I think their friendship can take it." Rashid draws from the vaporizer.

"So, was it hard to say goodbye to the _Enterprise_?" Alomar asks her as she passes it to him.

"Yeah. I mean, it's been my home for the last six years. I even doubted myself a bit – is it better to be chief science officer on the _Enterprise_ or captain of your own ship? If it wasn't the _Enterprise_ , it'd be an easy decision. But this mission… this is really something." She pauses. "I'm glad you're coming, Tomas."

"Me too."

The comm system chirps. "Starfleet Command to Captain Rashid."

She turns off the vaporizer and glances at Alomar, smirking, her eyes wide. "Rashid here."

"Sorry to bother you, Captain, but Commander Pon says her schedule changed, and she has to meet with you tonight."

To Alomar, Rashid mouths "Oh shit." "Uh, can you tell her now's not a good time, but I am free tomorrow at her convenience?"

"I tried, Captain, but there's no changing her mind. The best I can do is give you this advance warning. She's beaming over there now."

"Well, alright, thanks for the warning. Rashid out." To Alomar: "Well, I guess you're going to meet our chief engineer a little sooner than I expected. Do you know anything about Pon?"

"Only what I've heard. I read her file when I got this assignment. And, you know… her reputation precedes her." He finishes his wine. "I mean, I've served with Tellarites before…"

A sudden light falls upon the room, and a short, stocky, porcine figure with a wild mane of hair materializes in front of them. Her inset eyes looks around. "Hello Captain, Doctor. Sir, with all due respect, I have to disagree with your decision not to install my transpectral imaging array on _Icarus_. As I've said repeatedly in my messages, the _Icarus_ mission offers the perfect opportunity to test the array. Have you read my paper on transpectral analysis of gravimetric inversions in regions of high stellar density? I have it right here. I'm sure if you'll read it right now, you'll agree with my position. I can wait."

Pon stares intently at Rashid, who replies, "Good evening to you too, Commander. Yes, I've read your messages and your paper, and my order stands. The array-"

"Captain, with all due respect-"

Rashid continues, "Commander, the array is an untested piece of technology-"

"Not untested! I've run countless simulations-"

"…an untested piece of technology which, as much potential as it may have, will take up almost half the space that's currently allotted for the sickbay."

Pon retorts, "Captain, when I designed _Icarus_ , I did so with the health of the crew at the forefront of my priorities. But, as I've told you, the health risks to humanoids in this region of space are minimal."

Alomar interjects, "Minimal! That's your assessment, not mine, and it's based on a distinct lack of data. We don't know what we're going to encounter in there, and I can tell you right now that if something unexpected comes up, chances are you'll much rather have a couple of extra bio-beds than that damned array. It's my opinion as chief medical officer that the ship is better served by the extra sickbay space."

Pon regards Alomar as if noticing him for the first time. "Your opinion is _wrong_. And if the captain had picked the doctor I recommended, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Captain, I strongly suggest that you reconsider."

Alomar glares at the Tellarite. Rashid says, "Look, Pon, I'm not sure if you're talking about reconsidering my choice of inventory or CMO, but my decision is final on both. You may have designed and built _Icarus_ , but I'm in command, and I'm going to prioritize the health of my crew on this one. And I'm not sure if you've taken any of those cultural exchange courses which Starfleet recommends for Tellarites, but I won't have constant argument from you over every decision I make. This isn't a Tellarite ship, and I expect you to treat my decisions, and the opinions of my crew, with respect."

Alomar adds, "I think there's a chapter in those courses on not beaming into people's living rooms unannounced."

Pon is silent for a moment, opening her mouth to speak a few times but then deciding against it. "Very well, Captain. My objection will be noted in my log. I will see you on _Icarus_ tomorrow."

"Why did you call her _Icarus_ , anyway?" Alomar asks. "We're heading to a region of space that's super-densely packed with stars. Don't you know that in the myth of Icarus, he builds wings that let him fly, but when he flies too close to the sun, they burn and he plunges to his death?"

Rashid adds, "Yes, I've wondered about that too. It seems like bad luck to me."

"First of all, Captain, there's no such thing as luck. Second, it's a perfect name for the ship! It symbolizes the Federation overcoming its limitations. The Icarus story is so clearly scientifically unsound, and it represents the ignorance of primitive people. Icarus dared to defy the conventions of his time and reach for the sky! _Ex astris, scientia_. We Tellarites have many similar myths. Of course, we've been atheists since our late stone age. Skepticism is to Tellarites what logic is to Vulcans. We are all like Icarus, boldly venturing into one of the last true frontiers in the galaxy!"

"Yes," says Alomar, "but Icarus still dies in the myth."

"Which, again, is self-evidently wrong. The real takeaway is that we _should_ reach for the stars, and never let anyone tell us otherwise. The analogy is apt. If it makes Terrans uncomfortable, well, that wasn't my intention. I thought you'd like having it named after one of your mythical heroes."

Rashid smiles. "No, no, it's a good name. And I do wish we could bring the array along."

Another burst of cheering and booing erupts from the other room. "Who is that?" Pon asks.

"Our husbands," Rashid replies. "They are watching football."

"Husbands," Pon chortles. "I have four. They are constantly fighting. Fortunately our thirty children keep them busy most of the time. But I must be off. I will accept your decision, Captain Rashid, even if it sets the discipline of transpectral cartography back by half a decade." She taps her comm badge. "Pon here. One to beam up." And she dematerializes.

After a moment of stunned silence, Alomar asks, "Do they argue just for the sake of arguing?"

Rashid replies, "Actually, they do. Argument is central to Tellarite culture. But I've heard from other Tellarites that Pon is considered eccentric even by their standards. But she knows the ship better than anybody."

"Yes, and we're going to be trapped with her on it for four months."

"Having second thoughts, Tomas?"

He smiles. "Never. You will need my help to survive."

* * *

 _First Officer's log, 136302.2. First entry, Commander Isaiah Sparks,_ USS Icarus. _After four years coordinating Starfleet's scientific expedition to the Gamma Quadrant, I have accepted a new assignment as first officer of the_ USS Icarus. _I am excited to be part of this historic mission and to meet my crewmates, with whom I will be spending a great deal of time._

Commander Sparks takes a final look at the rugged beauty of the Martian landscape, then boards the small shuttlepod, duffel bag in hand. He is tall and well-built, in his early forties, with dark skin, close-cropped hair, and a well-kept beard. The shuttle's door closes behind him as he takes a seat in the cramped cabin. Seated next to him is a pale, blonde human woman, probably half a decade younger than him, slender and with grey eyes. She glances briefly at him, then looks away.

"Commander Sparks," says an Andorian woman at the ops station. "Hi. I'm Lieutenant Vanda Avala." She shakes his hand. Her skin is a deep blue, her hair short and white in a pixie cut, with two antennae that point at him. She is fit and strikingly beautiful. Next to her is a young Vulcan ensign with olive-coloured skin and a look of permanent surprise on his face.

Sparks says to Avala, "A pleasure to meet you. I understand you will be our security officer."

"That's right," she says.

"And you spent a year training with the Imperial Guard?"

"Yes, sir. I received advanced training in tactical maneuvers as well as Andorian martial arts."

"Very impressive," says Sparks, nodding at the young woman. Then, addressing the Vulcan: "You must be Ensign Rylek, our pilot."

"Yes, sir. Greetings, sir," says Rylek.

"Greetings," Sparks says, holding his hand in the Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper."

"Peace and long life, sir."

The blonde woman looks at him again. "And I am Lieutenant Susan Sorensen. The ship's science officer. Ah – as you know, I'm sure."

He shakes her hand. "Isaiah Sparks."

They sit. "If we're all ready," Sparks says, "You can take us out, Mr. Rylek."

"Yes, sir." He taps the conn panel. " _Shuttlepod Icarus-1_ , requesting permission to depart."

"Copy that, _Icarus-1. Icarus_ is waiting for you."

The thrusters hum as the shuttlepod launches towards the Martian sky. Sparks asks, "So, do you all know each other?"

Sorensen shakes her head. Avala says, "Rylek and I were at the academy together. I was a year ahead of him, but we both took specialized training in the Intensive Astrophysical Conditions program. That's how we were chosen for this mission – astrophysical conditions don't get much more intensive than the Galactic Core!"

"They sure don't," Sparks agrees. "Have any of you been on _Icarus_?" Avala and Rylek answer in the negative.

"I have," Sorensen replies, gazing out the window. "I helped design the labs and sensor relays. It's a remarkable ship."

"She certainly is," Sparks agrees. "Personally, I've never served on a ship with such a small crew complement. Seven people running a starship!"

Avala says, "From what I've read, the ship can essentially run itself if necessary. The computer system is extremely sophisticated."

"You know," says Sparks, "I've heard that the Cardassians are using fully automated ships these days. But I don't see Starfleet ever doing that. Just look at the Voyager Doctor's efforts to design a ship crewed entirely by holograms fifty years ago. It went nowhere. In my opinion, if you remove the personal element from space exploration, you undermine the very purpose of Starfleet."

"Mm, I agree," says Avala. "You can see it in the public excitement for this mission. Sending probes into the Galactic Core is one thing; sending a crew is something else entirely."

"Probes are of limited use in the Core anyway," Sorensen says. "Even when we can maintain contact with them, without warp capability we're just charting the edges."

They break out of Mars's atmostphere and approach a spacedock. Inside it is a small vessel. Its saucer section is the shape of an arrowhead, with a slender midsection connecting to a compact stern. There are two pylons pointing straight out to the port and starboard sides of the stern, with a double nacelle on each. As they draw closer, they read the registration on the hull of the ship: _USS Icarus, NCC-102141._

"Beautiful ship," Avala says.

"It possesses a certain aesthetic appeal," Rylek agrees.

Sparks smiles in spite of himself. "That's our ship! Take us in, Mr. Rylek."

Rylek says into the comm, "Shuttlepod 1 to _Icarus_. We are requesting permission to come aboard."

"Rashid here. Permission granted. Bring her in, Ensign."

They come about at the aft section of the ship. The shuttlebay door rises, and Rylek gently guides the shuttle into a small hangar. They touch down and the engines disengage.

"Let's take a look, shall we?" Sparks stands, takes his duffel bag, and turns to disembark. The others follow suit.

Captain Rashid, Alomar, and Pon are there when they disembark. "Commander Sparks!" The captain greets him with a firm handshake. "Glad to finally meet you in person. Welcome aboard _Icarus._ "

"Thank you, Captain," he says. "It's an honour to be here. And it's certainly a change of pace from my last assignment."

"Yes, I understand that you were on _Deep Space Nine_ coordinating the Gamma Quadrant expedition. How are things aboard that old monstrosity?"

"Never a dull moment, sir."

"I'm glad to hear that. You must have had your work cut out for you, liasing with the Dominion."

"They are tough negotiators," he says, "But I think they're finally starting to trust us. They even let me meet the Founder Odo in person a few times."

"It's a testament to your skills in scientific diplomacy," Rashid says. "It's good to have you aboard." She turns to the others. "Dr. Sorensen, it's a pleasure as always."

"Thank you, Captain."

"And Lieutenant Avala, Ensign Rylek, it's good to meet you again. You've both done extensive simulations on the conditions we'll encounter in the Core – are you ready for the real thing?"

"We are, Captain," Avala replies.

"Excellent. This is our CMO, Dr. Tomas Alomar."

"A pleasure to meet you all," he greets them.

"And our chief engineer, Commander Pon, who will give us the tour."

Pon steps forward. "Alright, listen up. You all know who I am. Welcome aboard _Icarus_ , the first of a new generation of Starfleet science vessels. This, obviously, is the hangar bay. The shuttlepod you came on is the only one we've got. So don't break it. Come with me to the turbolift now."

Sparks glances at Avala, who widens her eyes and grins slightly as they follow the brusque Tellarite. The seven of them cluster into the turbolift. "Deck 1," Pon says. Turning to the crew, she continues, "As you know, _Icarus_ is designed to be operated by a skeleton crew. There are six decks. Deck 1 is the bridge and captain's ready room. Deck 2 has our three science labs and sickbay. Deck 3 is crew quarters, toilets, holodeck, and the common room. Deck 4 is weapons and sensor control, and the transporter and escape pods. Deck 5 is engineering and deflector control. Deck 6 is the hangar and cargo bay."

The turbolift stops and the door slides open, revealing a round room which is completely empty except for a chair in the center and six chairs facing the dark grey bulkheads. Opposite the turbolift is a wide viewscreen open to space.

"Computer," Pon says. "Bridge setting."

Out of thin air, an array of consoles materialize around the room so that each chair faces several. Sparks is stunned. "Are those holographic?"

"Not quite," Pon replies, grinning slightly. "What you're looking at is the first starship equipped with matter projectors, a convergence of hologram and replicator technology. I was on the team that developed them. The consoles are replicated into being, and can be reconfigured on demand. It allows for maximum versatility on a small ship. Plus, if there's a power surge, your console will simply disappear, not explode and kill you."

"But it must use more power than conventional consoles," Sparks asks.

"Wrong. Power consumption is minimal. What we lose operating the matter projectors, we save by the ship having a lower overall mass. I have them installed throughout the ship."

Sparks is taken aback by her bluntness and says nothing for a moment. Alomar jumps in, "But if the ship is damaged, do we lose our interfaces?"

"If we're experiencing major systems failure, yes. But the matter projectors are tied into both main and auxiliary power, and are actually extremely stable. You're more likely to lose the system you're controlling than your console. And we have backup conventional controls down in Engineering." Pon nods to herself. "I say, why not build an entire ship that's nothing but a warp core and a set of matter projectors? But Starfleet is skittish about ships without conventional hulls. But they'll come around, mark my words."

"Commander Pon, sir," says Rylek, "Forgive my lack of understanding of this technology. But what would happen if one's extremities were in an area occupied by projected matter?"

Pon grins again. "Good question. Everyone, stand back." The crew backs towards the walls as Pon stands in the center of the room. "Computer, briefing room setting." The bridge consoles disappear, and the chairs turn and slide into an inward-facing rectangular pattern around Pon. Then a table materializes around her waist, giving the unsettling impression that her torso is sitting on the briefing table. She walks out of it as easily as if it were a hologram, then turns and knocks her fist where she had just passed through. "Sophisticated sensors supplemented by holograms and forcefields. Don't worry, my young friend – you won't get stuck."

Sparks looks around at the crew, who nod approvingly. Pon continues, "This room has two other settings: Stellar Cartography, and my personal favourite, intruder containment setting. It's based on a classical Tellarite death labyrinth and will certainly allow you to operate the ship even if intruders are mere meters from your position. Each lab is also equipped with a variety of settings for our research needs, and the sickbay's projectors can generate a range of medical equipment. Finally, crew quarters are actually just a couple of large, empty bays which can be configured into sets of individual quarters, which you can customize according to your tastes. My home on Tellar uses these too, and I'll tell you what I tell my kids: no fighting over who gets the biggest room." The captain and doctor chuckle.

Pon turns to Avala. "Lieutenant, you'll be interested to know that the ship is equipped with a transphasic torpedo launcher and a pair of phaser banks. I wouldn't recommend getting her into a fight, though, which is why she's equipped with a stealth screening system. Not a cloaking device, exactly, but it should render us invisible to the sensors of any ship that isn't specifically looking for us." Avala nods. Rashid's comm chimes, and she speaks softly into it.

"If I may, Commander," says Rashid to Pon, "We'll continue the tour afterwards. For now, Starfleet's given us the signal that we're ready to get underway! Computer, bridge setting."

The table disappears, the chairs slide back, and the consoles reappear. Pon turns to Rashid, "I guess I'll turn her over to you then. Computer, transfer command codes to Captain Zia Rashid."

"Are you sure?" says the computer gruffly. "Has she been fully briefed on how I work?"

Rashid glares at Pon. "Why is the ship arguing with you?"

"It's a Tellarite computer program, sir. We find it comforting."

"Well, turn it the hell off."

"Yes, sir. Computer, deactivate behavioural subroutine Pon-alpha and transfer command codes."

"Fine," says the computer. Switching to a more human-sounding voice, it says, "Command codes transferred."

"Thank you," Rashid says. "Everyone, take your stations!"

The crew sits at their consoles, and Rashid tugs her uniform down and sits in the captain's chair. Sparks looks at his console, running his hands on the sides of the panels just to ensure that it is fully corporeal.

"Ops reports ready," he announces.

"Helm reports ready," Rylek says.

"Tactical and communication report ready," says Avala.

"Sensors report ready," Sorensen says.

"Engineering reports ready," Pon declares loudly.

"Life support reports ready," Alomar says.

Rashid says, "Ms. Avala, signal Utopia Planetia Shipyard that we're prepared to depart.

After a moment, Avala reports, "Docking system disengaged."

"Mr. Rylek, set a course for the Galactic Core, Warp 12."

"Aye, Captain. Course laid in."

Rashid points her finger at the viewscreen. "Engage."

* * *

 _Captain's Log, Stardate 136395.3. It's been a week since we left Sector 001. The crew has been growing accustomed to life on_ Icarus _, which has consisted so far of tests and simulations for when we reach the Galactic Core next month. Our journey has been largely uneventful, except for a minor disagreement yesterday with a Ferengi DaiMon over the appropriate toll for passing through their space. I've instituted a somewhat flexible shift rotation schedule, as I've found the crew is happy to work more than standard hours since, quite frankly, there isn't much else to do on_ Icarus.

The door to Rashid's ready room chimes. "Enter," she says.

Commander Sparks walks in with a PADD. "My report from the night shift, Captain."

"Thanks, Isaiah," she says, taking it. "Was it lonely?"

"Not too bad this time. I've been getting caught up on the classics. I finished _Lord of the Rings_ today, finally. But Avala says she's willing to take on extra night shifts, since Andorians require so little sleep."

"I'm fine with that. I just don't want my crew getting burnt out before we even reach the Core."

"I'll let her know." He pauses for a moment. Rashid asks, "Something else, Commander?"

"Yes, Captain. It's… well, it's another complaint about a crew member."

Rashid tightens her lips. "What did Pon do this time?"

"Well, Lieutenant Sorensen was trying to configure some of the probes to emit polaron bursts to extend their range of communication, when Pon apparently stormed into the room and started screaming at her about how polaron bursts could destabilize our superspace inversion matrix and overload the engines, leaving us dead in space."

"Is that true?"

"Well, Susan thinks it might be. Quite frankly, Pon's the only one who actually understands superspace field mechanics. I sure don't – I barely passed subspace theory at the Academy, and am still a bit fuzzy on what superspace is at all, let alone how the SIM lets us travel at warp in the Core. But that's not the point. You know how Susan is – she's shy, introverted, and she doesn't really know how to deal with Pon. But she knows more about the Core than anyone else in Starfleet, even Pon. If you ask me, Pon should treat her – and all of us – with a bit more respect. Sir. Since we're stuck with each other for four months."

Rashid breathes a deep sigh. "Yes, I agree with you on that, Commander. The other day I walked in on her losing it at Rylek during a flight simulation. I thought the poor kid was going to cry. I had a talk with her after that, but to be honest, it's starting to feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over again, and I really don't want to have to discipline her before we even get to the Core. I'll talk to her again. But the fact is, she's probably the most brilliant physicist in the Federation, and we need her. Tell Susan I'll talk to Pon, but also remind her that Tellarite customs are different from ours."

"Aye, Captain," Sparks says. "But I don't think it's just a Tellarite thing. My best friend is a Tellarite, and even he's afraid of her."

She smiles. "Noted. Thanks, Isaiah." She taps her comm badge. "Commander Pon, please come to my ready room."

"Captain, I'm running a diagnostic on the deflector array."

"Pause it. I need to talk to you."

"It'll only take another 20 minutes-"

"Now, Pon. That's an order."

Silence, followed by low muttering. "Yes, Captain."

Sparks gives her a wry look. "Good luck."

She grins. "Thanks. Dismissed, Commander."

Sparks leaves, and Rashid takes a deep breath, staring at her reflection in the porthole as the stars streak by outside. After a moment, the door chimes again.

"Enter."

Pon comes in. "What do you want?"

"Have a seat, Pon."

She hesitates, then sits in the chair, leaning back, hands on her gut. Rashid takes a seat across from her. "I've received another complaint about your behaviour."

"Was it Dr. Sorensen? Because if those probes are shooting polaron bursts at us while we're at warp-"

"I'm not questioning your opinion as an engineer, Pon. It's the way you interact with the crew. You're disrespectful to them. Rude. It's not acceptable on any ship, and especially so with a small crew like this. We all have to work together-"

"Captain, I'm a Tellarite. People have to give allowances for my culture."

"Pon, I've served with plenty of Tellarites, and most of them never receive complaints. There's no excuse for this kind of behaviour, and I-"

"Captain, I'm just-"

Rashid holds up her hand. "Stop. Interrupting. Me. I won't tolerate this kind of behaviour on my ship. If I get another complaint, you'll be facing disciplinary action. Is that clear?"

Pon looks down, and growls in a low voice, "Yes, Captain."

"What's that?"

She looks up, her black eyes staring directly into Rashid's. "Yes, Captain."

"Good. Dismissed."

Pon grunts, stands up, and leaves the room. Rashid lets out a deep breath. She raises her hands. They are trembling slightly.

"Computer, play me some music. Something mellow. Early-period Herbie Hancock, maybe."

The laid-back piano of Canteloupe Island relaxes her somewhat, and she walks to the porthole and continues to watch the stars go by.

* * *

 _Captain's log, supplemental. We are approaching the edge of the Galactic Core, and are prepared for our first real use of the superspace inversion matrix._

"Remind me again," Alomar asks from his station on the bridge, "What exactly is the Great Barrier?"

On the viewscreen ahead of them is a dense cluster of stars stretching as far as the eye can see. Bright stars are visible against a general white-yellow background glow. Rashid is staring at it intently, fingers steepled, admiring the beautiful sight so rarely seen by human eyes.

"The term 'barrier' is a bit misleading," Sorensen explains. "It's simply the point at which the gravimetric pressures produced by those stars prevent us from forming a subspace field for warp drive."

"That's where the SIM comes in," Pon adds. "Conventional warp drive works by generating a subspace field which bends normal spacetime around us, allowing us to break the light barrier. The SIM reinforces our subspace field by generating a superspace field _inside_ our subspace field, which is only possible in subspace. Normally that would cause both fields to collapse, but the SIM actually inverts superspace by remodulating our transphasic field harmonics using repolarized anti-proton bursts routed through the deflector grid."

"Oh," says Alomar, who glances to Avala and mouths "What?" She smiles and shrugs.

Rylek interjects, "One might say that it is like blowing up a balloon inside another balloon."

"No," says Pon. "It's nothing like that."

"Alright, Pon," says Rashid. "Is the SIM ready?"

"At your command, Captain."

"Mr. Rylek, take us in. Warp factor 1."

"Aye, Captain."

There is a low hum which increases in pitch as they move forward. Suddenly, the ship shudders and an alarm goes off.

"Warning," says the computer. "Warp field destabilizing."

"Come on," growls Pon, slamming her palm on the console and swearing in Tellarite. "Work, you piece of _gnarf._ I know you can do it."

"Status report, Dr. Pon?" Rashid asks.

"Oh, we're fine, Captain, just a bit of…" she trails off, her hands dancing over the console. The alarm suddenly stops and the whine decreases in pitch. "Warp field stable."

Rashid stands up, tugging down her uniform. "Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen. We are the first people in Federation history to enter the Galactic Core. This is an historic day for Starfleet."

There is a round of applause. "Hear, hear," says Sparks.

"Dr. Sorensen," says Rashid, "Let's get some of those probes ready."

"Aye, Captain."

"Dr. Pon, what do you think is the maximum speed we can sustain in here?"

"I'd say Warp 4, maybe Warp 5."

"Let's keep it to Warp 3 for now. Mr. Rylek-"

The lights suddenly dim, and the bridge consoles flicker briefly in and out of existence. Rashid feels the hair on her neck stand on end.

Then the lights brighten again and the flickering stops. "What was that?" the captain asks.

Sorensen replies, "It looks like some kind of subspace field passed through the ship, Captain. Source unknown."

"Pon, was it the SIM?"

"No, sir, it doesn't look like it. SIM reports normal. I'll go down to Engineering to double-check."

"Do it. Tomas, do a full scan on the crew's bio-signs just to be safe."

"Aye, sir." He pulls out a medical tricorder as Pon enters the turbolift.

Rylek asks, "Shall I maintain course, Captain?"

She is quiet for a moment. "Yes, maintain course. But let's keep close tabs on what's going on. We don't know much about what's in here, so let's be careful."

She stares at the viewscreen. The stars' glow increases in intensity.

* * *

Avala is not alone.

She awakens with a start, in a cold sweat. "Computer, lights!"

The lights go up, revealing her empty quarters. Her eyes and antennae scan the room. "Computer, am I alone in my quarters?"

"Affirmative."

"Was anyone else here just now?"

"Negative."

Her heart beats furiously in her chest, and she checks the readout next to her bed. "Ninety minutes' sleep," she says, glancing one last time around the room. She climbs out of bed, pulls on a tank-top and shorts, and leaves her quarters for the common room. The lights are out, but the stars of the Core illuminate it more brightly than mid-day on Andor. Rylek is sitting alone, meditating, and she smiles and sits next to him.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all, Lieutenant."

"Rylek," she says, "we're off-duty. Come on."

He relaxes, relatively speaking. "Apologies, Vanda."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Are you just getting off duty?"

"Yes." His brow furrows. "You are perspiring. Are you agitated?"

She leans her forehead against her palm. "Yeah. I guess I just – well, I had a dream that someone was in my quarters. This is the second time this week. I don't know – maybe it's the stars. I dimmed the opacity of the porthole in my quarters, but the light still seems to be getting in."

"That is curious," Rylek says. "I have experienced a similar sensation on several occasions since we entered the Core."

Her antennae perk up. "Really?"

"Really. It is not much – just the sense that there is another intelligence present with me. But it has only been momentary. There has been no sign that any of the rest of the crew was experiencing it. Tell me, what was the nature of your experience?"

She frowns. "Do you remember when I used to date that Betazoid, back at the Academy?"

"I do, indeed," he replies. "You said to me, 'Never date someone who can read your mind.'"

She chuckles. "And I stand by that. But I remember, I used to get this feeling every time he was in the room with me, even if I didn't know he was there. I could just feel that he was nearby, sensing my thoughts."

Rylek raises an eyebrow. "Curious. There have been unconfirmed reports that Andorians may possess some latent sensitivity to telepathy."

"Yeah," she muses. "Historians say that our distant ancestors had telepathic abilities, which were maintained by some of the subspecies on Andoria. And Vulcans are sensitive to telepathy too – you don't think there's some kind of telepathic presence here with us?"

"A logical, if unsettling conclusion."

She stares past him at the bright smear of stars outside.

"However," he adds, "I do not believe there is cause for concern yet. I suggest we alert the captain to our suspicions in the morning." He pauses awkwardly. "In the meantime, if you like, I could teach you some Vulcan meditation techniques…?"

She relaxes somewhat, smiling at him. "Maybe another time. Thanks, Rylek. You always calm me down. It reminds me of the time I was panicking about finals. Remember that?"

"I do indeed. Then, as now, I was happy to be of service, Vanda, in any capacity you require. Any."

She smiles and takes his hand. "You're a good friend, Rylek. I'm glad you're here. You're so… logical."

To Avala, it appears that Rylek blushes a shade of deep green. "I aspire to be."

After a moment, she stands. "Well, thanks. I'm going to try to get a bit more sleep. See you on the bridge."

"Yes… see you there," says Rylek, his eyes following her as she leaves the common room.

* * *

 _Science Officer's Log, Stardate 136402.4. Based on reports by Lieutenant Avala and Ensign Rylek, the captain believes we may be under surveillance by a telepathic alien entity. However, neural imaging of the crew has revealed none of the telltale signs of telepathic contact. To be more certain, the captain has ordered Dr. Alomar and me to run a biometric scan of our surroundings in order to investigate the possibility of lifeforms nearby._

The starlight casts a long shadow of Dr. Sorensen and Dr. Alomar through the transparent ceiling of Science Lab 1 as they parse the sensor data taken by the biometric scan. Neither speaks for nearly forty-five minutes until Alomar breaks the silence.

"You know, you should take the captain up on her offer to join us for dinner. She really is an excellent cook. Her Bolian salamander kebab is exquisite – the matter projectors allow her to create a grill in her quarters!"

Staring at the console, she replies, "I appreciate that, doctor. I will in time. There's just been so much work to do."

"Indeed there has. And yet I feel that I have rarely seen you, despite being on this small ship together for well over a month."

She looks over at him. "It's nothing personal, doctor. It's just… when I have down time, I prefer to spend it alone. I always have."

He smiles. "That may be a valuable survival technique when put in such close quarters with a very few people."

There is more silence as they examine the readouts. Eventually, she asks, "Do you really think we are being watched?"

"I am not certain. There is no evidence so far. But, telepathy is a tricky thing. We've had concrete evidence of its existence for over four centuries, and yet we still do not understand fully how it works. There are at least five known types of telepathy which work in entirely different ways, and there may yet be undiscovered forms." He pauses. "But I, for one, certainly hope they are mistaken."

"Well, based on this scan, it looks like they are. There's no evidence of life anywhere within the admittedly narrow range of our sensors."

"Yes, my readings are coming up negative as well. Of course, it's hard to imagine where exactly a life form could be in this environment. We haven't seen any planets yet that are even remotely habitable."

She furrows her brow. "Yes, and there's been no sign of ships either. But that's not surprising, since warp travel is impossible in here. Unless…"

He raises his eyebrow. "You have an idea?"

"Well, a ship could be using superspace technology the same way we are. I've observed that we leave a distinctive gravimetric wake when we use the SIM drive. If there's another ship here, I might be able to configure the sensors to detect it."

"That seems worthwhile," he says.

She sets to work reconfiguring the sensors. Alomar asks, "Tell me, Susan, do you have any family back home?"

"Just my cat, Data," she answers, not looking up. "He's with one of my grad students right now. What about yourself?"

"I have a husband and two teenage daughters back in Havana," he answers. "I miss them. But the life of a Starfleet officer is hard on families."

"Yes. I've never felt the need for one, myself," she says. "A few friends and my work is enough for me." Her console beeps. "There. I've configured the sensors. Computer, run scan program Sorensen Lambda-2."

"Working," says the computer. After a moment, her console beeps again. She peers down at it. "Well. This is interesting."

"What is it?" he asks, coming over.

She points at a star chart on her console. "There. It looks like there's another ship creating a gravimetric wake that's very similar to ours."

"Could those be our telepathic friends?"

"Maybe. They're quite far away, though. I should alert the captain." She taps her comm badge. "Sorensen to Captain Rashid. I believe I may have found another ship."

Rashid replies, "Great work, Susan. Meet me on the bridge right away."

"Aye, captain. Computer, deactivate Lab 1, route all sensor telemetry to Deck 1 and set to Stellar Cartography setting." She and Alomar turn for the door as the lab's equipment vanishes, leaving only an empty room illuminated by the cloud of stars.

Moments later, they meet the captain on Deck 1, which is configured to be a holographic 360-degree panorama of stars suspended in midair. The rest of the crew arrives shortly after.

"Tell me what you've got, Dr. Sorensen," the captain says.

Sorensen points to a small point on the holographic star chart, which floats in front of them. "I've detected a gravimetric wake which could indicate the presence of a ship. It appears to be moving toward the edge of the Galactic Core, bearing three seven five mark four."

Pon peers at the readout. "This can't be right."

Sorensen stiffens. "I assure you that it is, unless there's something wrong with the sensor array."

"No… it's just… look." She moves to the point in the star chart, then reaches towards the point in the chart representing _Icarus_ and moves them side by side. "Look at this."

Sorensen and the captain stare at the data. "The wake is being generated at the exact same quantum frequency," Sorensen observes.

"Exactly," Pon says.

Rashid stares at the readout. "But that would only be possible if they had an identical drive to ours."

The three women exchange incredulous glances. Sorensen says, "Well, whatever it is, it's moving closer to the edge of the Core at Warp 1."

"Let's try to get to the bottom of this. Computer, bridge setting." The star chart disappears and the bridge materializes. Rashid takes her seat. "Mr. Rylek, move to intercept, Warp 3. Avala, Yellow Alert."

"Aye, Captain," Avala says. "Shall I enter stealth mode?"

"No. We don't want to sneak up and surprise them. Once we're in range, try to hail them. Dr. Sorensen, what can you tell me about that ship?"

"Not much, Captain. I can tell that they are running a superspace inversion matrix which is, for all intents and purposes, identical to our own, but I'm not reading anything on the ship."

"Could they have a stealth system similar to ours?" Sparks asks. "Or a cloaking device?"

"It's possible," Sorensen replies. "Hold on – I'm detecting unusual levels of epsilon radiation coming from within the superspace field."

"That's usually only found very close to the event horizon of a black hole," Avala observes.

"Yes, and it's also preventing me from getting any kind of telemetry on the ship."

Rashid narrows her eyes. "Mr. Rylek, how long until we're in visual range?"

"Ninety seconds, sir."

There is silence for a moment as the thick stars streak past on the viewscreen. Rashid asks, "Ms. Avala, Mr. Rylek, are you sensing any kind of presence like you did before?"

"No sir," they both answer.

"Captain," growls Pon, "None of this makes any sense. The only way I could be getting these readings is if that ship had an engine with an identical configuration to ours. And the odds of that are astronomical."

"I share your frustration, Dr. Pon," Rashid says. "Are we within visual range, Mr. Rylek?"

"Entering range now, Captain."

"On screen. Maximum magnification."

The viewscreen zooms in on a small silver object travelling through space. As they draw closer, they can see the outlines of double nacelles and an arrowhead-shaped saucer section.

"I don't believe it," Sparks says. "It's us."

Rashid peers at the vessel. "Hail them, Ms. Avala."

After a moment, "No response, sir."

Pon turns to her. "Captain, I can't believe I'm saying this, but if that's another _Icarus_ , they may be using the stealth system. I can configure the sensors to counteract it."

"Do it."

After a moment, Sorensen reports, "There we go… I'm getting some more readings on the ship, still very sporadic from the epsilon radiation. It looks… it looks like the ship's sustained heavy damage."

As they move closer, they can see blast marks on the hull. Rashid asks the crew, "Any thoughts on what we're dealing with here?"

Avala suggests, "If we have been observed by aliens since entering the Core, this could be some kind of trap they've created. For us or for Starfleet."

"I have another theory," says Pon. "Judging from the telemetry I'm getting on their superspace field, it looks like their SIM has been subject to considerable wear and tear. I'd say we may be looking at ourselves… from the future."

The ship is large in their viewscreen now. Rashid says, "Mr. Rylek, match their speed and heading. I want to find out exactly what's going on here. Can you get any more information, Dr. Sorensen?"

"Not much, sir, although it looks like most major systems are offline, including life support. But even at close range, the sensors can't penetrate large sections of the hull. It's been totally irradiated somehow."

Rashid turns to Alomar. "Tomas, is epsilon radiation harmful to humanoid physiology?"

"Only after long-term exposure," he replies. "Wait… where are you going with this?"

Rashid says, "We need to find out who – or what – created that ship. We can't let it leave the Core without having some idea of what it is. Still no response on hailing frequencies, Ms. Avala?"

"None, sir."

Rashid stands up. "Then we're taking an away team in. Pon, Tomas, you're with me. Get the environmental suits and meet me in the hangar bay."

"Sir," Sparks interjects, standing up, "As first officer, I must remind you that Starfleet regulations clearly state that you remain on the bridge. I can lead the away team."

"Thank you, Commander," she replies, "But we may be dealing with an application of the Temporal Prime Directive here, and if that's the case, regulations also specify the need for the highest-ranking officer to make all relevant decisions. Don't worry – the new environmental suits have built-in pattern enhancers which should allow you to beam us out of just about anywhere." She strides toward the turbolift, Pon and Alomar at her side. "Mr. Sparks, you have the bridge. Keep a close eye on us."

Reluctantly, he takes his seat again. "Aye, Captain."

* * *

 _Captain's log, supplemental. We have discovered what appears to be another_ Icarus _, heavily damaged and making its way out of the Core. Initial investigations suggest that it may be from the future. I am bringing a boarding party to investigate. The ship is heavily irradiated, making transport impossible, so we are landing the shuttlepod on the hull of the ship and entering from the outside._

It is a short distance between the two _Icaruses_ , allowing the shuttlepod to travel through the ships' merged warp fields and land on the outer hull of the damaged ship.

"What exactly is our mission here?" asks Pon, securing her environmental suit's helmet.

Rashid gently guides the shuttle to the saucer section of the damaged _Icarus_. "We're going to find out exactly what this is. If it does appear that the ship is us from the future, we'll have to proceed very carefully to avoid contaminating the timeline, but I'm considering that only one of several possibilities for the time being."

Pon replies, "Good. On close inspection, I should be able to determine whether time travel has occurred. But I don't have to remind you that if it is, we'll have to get off the ship as soon as possible to avoid violating the Temporal Prime Directive."

Alomar asks, "What if we find our future selves aboard, wounded or dead? I'm not leaving anyone to die on that ship, whether they're from the future or not. And if we find our own dead bodies, shouldn't we try to figure out what happened so we can avoid it? I, for one, would prefer not to die out here."

"I'll consider that decision if and when it arises," Rashid tells them as the shuttlepod touches down on the hull of the ship. She puts on her helmet. "For now, prepare to disembark."

She powers down the shuttlepod and they step into the airlock. The inner airlock door closes, and the air around them is sucked out with a _whoosh_ as the outer airlock opens. They step out into the silent luminosity of space.

Pon steps forward, scanning the ship with the tricorder built into her suit. The readouts flicker in front of her eyes. "There, ahead of us," she gestures. "There's an airlock which will lead us into the Jeffries tubes on Deck 1."

They walk forward, with their breathing the only audible sound. Pon enters a code on an airlock. "It's not responding," she says. "Stand back." She raises her arm and fires a phaser burst from her wrist, then pulls. The airlock opens and they crawl inside.

The Jeffries tube is cramped, and debris floats aimlessly before them. Alomar scans the tube. "Life support has failed completely. I'm not reading any lifesigns."

"This way," Pon gestures, crawling forward. She wrestles with a hatch, then pulls it off and crawls through. The others follow suit.

They are on Deck 1. Several of the chairs have come loose and are floating in the middle of the room. To the port, bridge consoles flicker sporadically into existence. A part of the briefing room table hovers in the starboard part of the room, also flickering, and part of the Stellar Cartography star chart is near the viewscreen.

"Computer," says Pon, but there is no response.

Waving his built-in tricorder around the room, Alomar says, "I'm not detecting any organic material around here, Captain, except some residue. I can't be sure, but it looks like it's been here for at least a week. Human, Tellarite, Vulcan, Andorian… we were here, that's for sure, but it looks like we've been gone for a while."

"Pon," Rashid says into her comm, "Get down to Engineering and see if you can figure out what happened. Tomas, get down to the hangar – I'll go check the escape pods. If there are survivors, they'll have to be somewhere with an independent life support system."

"Aye, Captain," they reply. Rashid shines her light once again around the room, then follows them into the Jeffries tube.

They reach a juncture. "Engineering and the hangar are this way," Pon announces. "Captain, if you climb down this ladder to the very bottom, you'll reach Deck 4 and the escape pods."

"Hopefully they're gone," Alomar says, meeting Rashid's eye. "Good luck, Zia."

"You too, Tomas, Pon."

They crawl out of sight as Rashid climbs down the ladder. Eventually she reaches the bottom and, with some struggle, opens the hatch leading to Deck 4.

It is illuminated only by starlight. She walks forward, scanning, but her readouts are scrambled. She activates the comm. "Rashid to Pon."

Over heavy interference, she hears, "Pon here."

"Pon, the radiation is really heavy down here, but it looks like at least two of the escape pods are still in place. There's no one inside."

"Copy that. There are four total. I'm almost at Engineering."

Rashid continues forward, knocking aside a piece of bulkhead floating in the corridor. It bounces silently off the ceiling.

Her comm unit beeps again. "This is Alomar. Captain, the shuttlepod is gone."

"That's good news, at least. Hold on, I'm checking Escape Pods 3 and 4." She taps a console next to the escape pod hatch. "I think Pod 4 is in use."

She brings her scanner to bear on the hatch. The radiation is extremely heavy and her scans are useless. Pointing her phaser arm towards the door, she activates the control. The hatch slides open, the air kept inside by a forcefield powered by the pod. It is dark inside.

"I'm going in," she tells Alomar. His reply is scrambled beyond recognition.

Breathing heavily, her heartbeat loud in her suit, she steps inside the cramped pod. There are small seats on either side. A blue-green globe sits on the port seat. In the starboard seat, there is a figure in a red uniform curled up. It raises its head and turns to her.

Captain Rashid stares, stunned, into her own eyes.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. And The Stars Looked Down, Part 2

_Captain's Log, supplemental. Dr. Alomar, Commander Pon, and I have returned from the derelict copy of the_ USS Icarus _, bringing with us the only survivor of the ship… me. She is suffering from severe radiation poisoning and is currently being treated in Sickbay._

"What can you tell me, Tomas?"

Rashid strides briskly into Sickbay, Sparks close behind. The door slides close behind them. The bright starlight of the Galactic Core casts shadows around the small room. In the first of three biobeds, the alternate Rashid lies unconscious. Alomar stares pensively at a console attached to the biobed.

"Well, I can confirm what is immediately observable – biologically speaking, she is you. There's some cellular degradation from the radiation poisoning, but I'd estimate she's at least several weeks older than you. And I must say, Captain, it's a good thing you found her when you did – if she'd spent much more time in there, I doubt I could reverse the damage."

Rashid stares at her counterpart's unconscious face. Her hair is a mess, her red uniform is scuffed and torn, but the face is unmistakeably hers. She shivers slightly.

Sparks says, "Did she say anything to you when you rescued her?"

"No," Rashid answers. "Honestly, I couldn't think of what to say, and she passed out almost immediately. It certainly appears that we're dealing with a temporal paradox."

"It would seem that way," Alomar concurs. "In any event, I've stabilized her condition. I could wake her up if you'd like a word."

"Captain," Sparks turns to Rashid. "If there is time travel involved here, then the Temporal Prime Directive applies. If you talk to her, it could pollute the timeline. In fact… by a strict reading, we may already be in violation by treating her injuries."

"Damn it," interjects Alomar, "if you're suggesting I should have let her die…"

Rashid holds up her hands. "It's alright, Tomas – you were right to do what you did. But you're right, Isaiah. We have to tread very carefully here."

Alomar stares at the unconscious captain. "If she is indeed you, from the future, who's to say that in her timeline, weeks ago, she wasn't standing in this very place, having this very conversation?"

Sparks frowns. "That is a possibility. But if that's the case, how do we know what we're supposed to do?"

"We're not 'supposed' to do anything," Rashid says. "We can only make the best choices we can based on the information we have. And I, for one, want some answers. Tomas, wake her up."

"Very well, Captain," the doctor replies, injecting the alternate captain with a hypo. Her eyes open. She is agitated for a moment, then focuses her eyes on Alomar. "Tomas..."

"Who are you?" the present Rashid asks her.

She stares at the present Rashid, then starts laughing uncontrollably, which turns to coughing. An alarm on the biobed goes off.

"Tomas! What's going on?" the present captain asks, moving closer to her double.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I need to sedate her."

The alternate Rashid seizes her counterpart's hand, and gasps, "The Temporal Prime Directive… you want answers, but I can't… I can't…"

Alomar places the hypo to her neck and sedates her.

"What happened?" Sparks asks.

"Judging from these readings, I'd say she's suffered severe psychological trauma."

Rashid shivers slightly. "As if she'd lost her crew."

"You think she might be the sole survivor of some coming disaster?" Sparks asks her.

She stares at her double. "It's a possibility. But then, if it were me - really me - I tend to think I'd try to avert the disaster, Temporal Prime Directive be damned.""

"Can't say I'd blame you," Sparks agrees.

"In any event," Alomar says, "your future self needs rest. I will contact you when she awakens. And don't forget to take that prescription I gave you, Captain; we were exposed to small doses of epsilon radiation on the other _Icarus_ and I want to be safe."

"Thanks, Tomas. In the meantime, maybe Pon has some answers for us." She taps her comm badge. "Rashid to Pon. I'd like to talk about your analysis of that ship."

"Oh yes, I think you'll be very interested in what I've found. I'm in my quarters."

"Understood. Rashid out." To Alomar, "Keep an eye on her."

"Certainly. She is an old friend, after all."

Rashid smiles, then walks to the turbolift with Sparks. "Deck 3."

"Captain, have you ever experienced a temporal paradox before?"

"Just once, on the _Enterprise_. We accidentally got transported back to the Eugenics Wars. I'm not supposed to talk about it."

Sparks chuckles. "There's something about that line of ships, isn't there?"

"Yes. Temporal Investigations was furious. They wanted to have a representative stationed on board permanently. But the captain suggested that trying to avoid disrupting the timeline might actually cause more paradoxes than it solves. They let up on us after that."

The lift opens and they walk through the corridor to Pon's quarters and touch the door chime. "Enter," comes Pon's voice.

They step inside and are immediately assaulted with a powerful alien stench. They cover their mouths, suppressing a gag reflex. Half-assembled machinery and other personal items are strewn about the room. At the other end of a room is a large tub filled with thick black muck, in which Pon reclines, naked.

"Agh," chokes Sparks. "Is that mud?"

"That's right," grins Pon. "Straight from the Gargva valley. It's the peatiest stuff on Tellar. Delightfully pungent, isn't it? Normally, you're not supposed to take it off Tellar, but when I was awarded the Order of Gav'ar, I convinced the First Speaker to give me a barrel of this stuff instead of the stupid crown they usually give. It has numerous therapeutic properties; I highly recommend you both try it sometime."

"Um. Another time, maybe," says Rashid warily. "Should we give you a minute...?"

"No need. The mud stimulates the flow of ideas for me." She reaches for a padd and holds it out for Rashid. "Take a look at this."

Rashid takes it, averting her eyes from the naked Tellarite. Sparks stares out the porthole intently. Studying the padd, Rashid asks, "Is this a computer diagnostic for the other ship?"

"Yes. For lack of a better term, it's fried. Looks like there was some kind of massive cyberattack. It's as if someone went into the main computer and just ripped out whatever they could find."

"But the autopilot was still online."

"Yes - the warp drive and SIM can be controlled by the auxiliary computer in Engineering. Someone routed helm control through the aux computer as well. Fairly crudely, I might add. But the astrometric data required to do that took up the entire mainframe, so they had to purge the memory banks. In other words, there's no record of what happened to them. But it does explain why the auto-repair sequence didn't engage. Under normal circumstances, if the ship takes damage, the main computer will automatically replicate replacement parts and beam them into place. I recommend backing up our data on the shuttlepod's computer just in case that happens to us."

"I'll set it to auto-backup every hour. Any other thoughts on what happened?"

"What didn't happen? They got shot, irradiated, were subjected to some pretty severe gravimetric stresses - plus, there's some weird organic matter on board that neither I nor Alomar recognize. Not to mention that globe thing you found in the escape pod, which I can make neither heads nor tails of. I imagine your doppelganger in sickbay has some interesting tales to tell."

"Yes, well, she's being very tight-lipped about it. Citing the Temporal Prime Directive."

"Ah. Perhaps a wise decision."

"Except that we might be able to save ourselves a lot of trouble if we knew what we were in store for."

Pon looks pensive. "Maybe. Unless by trying to prevent it, we end up causing it to happen."

Rashid pauses for a moment. "I'm going to call a staff meeting at 2200. We'll discuss our options then. In the meantime... um... enjoy your bath."

"I will, Captain. And I'm serious about my offer to share my mud. I wouldn't share it with just anyone."

"Thanks, Pon, but I'll pass."

"Suit yourself."

Rashid and Sparks leave the room, breathing deeply. Sparks says, "On the plus side, that's the best mood I've ever seen her in."

* * *

"Alright, everyone, here's what we've got: a heavily damaged version of our ship, probably from the future; a traumatized version of me in sickbay who won't say anything about what's going on; no sign of the rest of the crew or the shuttlepod; an alien object sitting in an escape pod; and a whole lot of uncertainty. Thoughts?"

Avala says, "There are clear signs that the ship was in battle. Considering our woefully limited tactical capabilities, we might consider turning back and returning in a better-equipped ship."

Pon glares at Avala. "Or we could continue doing what we were sent here to do instead of turning tail at the first sign of trouble."

Avala glowers back at her. "I think there's some pretty clear evidence there that our mission is going to be a failure."

Sparks interjects, "Knowing what we know, we may have an advantage. I suggest we proceed with caution."

"I agree, Captain," says Sorensen. "If we operate in stealth mode, and keep a close watch for signs of enemy ships, we may still be able to collect some valuable data."

Rashid glances across the briefing table, out the viewscreen at the other _Icarus_. "Let's do it. This is an important mission; we won't abandon it until absolutely necessary. Any objections?"

The crew indicates agreement. Rashid continues, "The next issue is what to do with the other ship. I'm inclined to disable its autopilot and leave it here until we come back through on our way out."

"It would certainly cause Starfleet a lot of anxiety if an abandoned _Icarus_ limped out of the Galactic Core," Alomar observes. "Then again, we could put an automated signal on it to tell them what happened."

"I'd prefer to keep it close by," Pon says. "There are things about it that might make more sense to us once we've gone deeper into the Core. And I'd like to take that globe aboard for further study."

Sorensen turns to Rashid. "I'd advise caution surrounding the object, Captain. For all we know, it could be what disabled the ship."

"If that were true, then why would the other captain have had it in her escape pod?" Pon shoots back.

"I don't know. None of us do. That's why we should be careful with it," Sorensen replies, her voice steely.

The lights suddenly flicker, and the table disappears momentarily. Avala's antennae stand on end. "Captain..."

And then she, Sorensen, Sparks, and Rylek disappear. Alomar immediately pulls out a medical tricorder as Pon hurriedly taps the table, activating an engineering console. Rashid says, "Computer..."

And then Rylek, Avala, and Sparks are back in their seats. Sorensen's chair remains empty.

"Report!" shouts Rashid.

"Looks like some kind of subspace transporter, Captain," says Pon. "I can't locate Lieutenant Sorensen."

"Did you see anything?" Rashid asks Sparks.

"Nothing, sir. As far as I know, we never materialized."

"Captain," says Rylek, "I believe we were contacted by a telepathic entity."

"We should raise shields!" Avala says loudly, her antennae still standing on end.

"Do it," Rashid tells her. "But only over the saucer section. If they want to send Sorensen back, I want them to be able to. Red alert! Computer, bridge setting. Sparks, do a full scan of the nearby space for enemy ships."

The room changes to bridge setting, bathed in a red light. Rashid says to Pon, "Can you drop the other ship out of warp?"

She taps on her console for a moment. "Done. I remotely accessed the autopilot and disabled it."

"Good. Scan the ship - I want to know if the transport originated from them or that object on board."

"I'm not reading any change."

"Captain," says Sparks, "we encountered subspace transporters in the Gamma Quadrant. The Dominion uses them. They can be used at an extremely long range and shields don't necessarily stop them. And they're notoriously hard to trace."

"I know someone who might know what happened to Susan," Rashid says tensely. "Rylek, let's resume our heading into the core, Warp 3. Commander Sparks, you have the bridge. Tomas, let's pay a visit to sickbay."

* * *

There is a moment of tense silence in the turbolift. Then Alomar says, "As your chief medical officer, I have to tell you that my first priority is the health of my patient…"

"Not now, Tomas."

"And I'm not sure exactly what you're planning to do, but I have to remind you that we're potentially dealing with a very traumatized person here…"

"I'm aware of that. But Dr. Sorensen is missing, and I will not lose her on our first mission here…"

"A person who could be a very close friend of mine!"

"She isn't me, Tomas. She is a being of unknown origin who we picked up off a derelict ship. And she may know where Susan is. I don't know if you've noticed, but we have exactly zero other leads right now."

"I understand that."

Another pause. Then Rashid says, "If she is me, she'll understand the severity of the situation."

The door opens and Rashid walks briskly into Sickbay. She nods to Alomar and he injects the unconscious woman on the biobed with a hypo. She opens her eyes, unfocused for a moment, then sees Rashid and her eyes widen. "Alright, before you start, I can't tell you anything…"

Rashid steps close to the biobed and stares her counterpart in the eyes, scowling. "Susan is gone, and I think you know where she is. And you will tell me where she is."

"I understand how you are feeling right now-"

"Look, I'm not interested in having a conversation about the Temporal Prime Directive! Just tell me where she is!"

"I can't!"

"Why? Is it because she's alright?"

Agitated, the Rashid double says "If I tell you, it will affect the timeline! You know that!"

"The hell with the timeline! This is my timeline, not yours. Just tell me what happened to her!"

"Things can only happen the way they happen…"

Rashid seizes her double's uniform and moves her face close to the other's face. "TELL ME!"

Alomar steps forward. "Zia, enough!"

Rashid steps back, then looks at Alomar. He puts his hand on her shoulder. "Have you considered the possibility that she may have a good reason for doing what she's doing?"

They stare at each other for a moment. Then Rashid turns back to her double and asks, softly, "You were alone on the ship for some time, weren't you."

The other Rashid stares at her, with no response.

"What happened to the crew?"

Silence.

"Are you my future self?"

"Yes."

"Then you know what I'm feeling right now."

"I do."

"And you remember Susan."

"Yes." Her face betrays no emotion.

Rashid stares at her for another moment. "If you are me, then you won't be able to live with yourself if anything you do causes us to lose Susan... to lose our crew. The only reason I wouldn't say anything is if I knew it was the only way to help them."

The other Rashid meets her gaze, saying nothing.

The captain slams her hand on the biobed. "How the hell do you know that your presence here won't affect what I do? That I won't make the wrong decision?"

A pause. "You can only make the decisions you make."

"Damn it!" She turns to Alomar. He is smirking. "What the hell is so funny, Tomas?"

"She won't give you any more information, Zia. I can tell. She is you, and I can tell when it's pointless to try to argue with you."

Softly, she replies, "I need to know Susan's going to be alright."

"You can't know that. You need to trust her. To trust yourself."

She gazes once more at her double, who stares back at her. "Very well. I'll be in Science Lab 1."

She leaves the room. Tomas watches her go.

The other Rashid says to him quietly, "You trust me."

"I trust Captain Rashid."

She says nothing.

* * *

"Sir," says Rylek, "I would like to draw your attention to the star formation at bearing thirteen point five, mark four."

"On screen." Sparks looks up from the ops console on the captain's chair to the viewscreen. A large, blue star fills the screen. Near its equator, two smaller yellow stars orbit the blue star and each other, one northwest of the other relative to the larger star. A trail of yellow plasma streams from each of the yellow stars. The two trails spiral around each other, growing gradually more superheated and then eventually merging into a single blue stream entering the large star.

"Incredible," he marvels. "I've never seen anything like that before."

"I'm just glad Professor Bixx didn't think of that," Avala says to Rylek.

"Indeed."

Sparks glances between them. "Should I ask?"

Rylek says quickly, "Of course, sir. Professor Bixx was our advanced Gravimetrics instructor, and architect of a notoriously difficult final simulation involving a binary star plasma stream."

"He almost failed the entire class," Avala adds.

"I see." he adjusts the sensors for a more thorough imaging of the phenomenon. "It sounds like the intensive astrophysics program was a close-knit group."

"We were pretty close," Avala nods. "Small group, all pilots and security specialists. So, as you can imagine, a lot of drama too."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to say anything," Sparks smirks. "I did stellar cartography before I transferred into command track."

"Less egos in the sciences, I'd imagine," Avala muses, still gazing at the star formation.

"Well, you'd be surprised." Sparks looks between them. "No drama between the two of you, I hope."

"No, sir," Rylek answers immediately. "Lieutenant Avala and I are merely friends."

"I'd say more than 'merely' friends," Avala says. "Rylek saved my ass at the Academy more than a few times. There was this time where the superintendent showed up at one of our parties..."

She is interrupted by the computer. "Proximity alert. Unidentified vessel approaching."

Sparks moves to ops. "Damn, they're close, too. We've got no sensor range in here. I'm getting two... no, three ships. Small, not much bigger than us. Avala, open a channel."

"Channel open."

"Attention, unidentified vessels. This is Commander Isaiah Sparks of the Federation starship _Icarus_. We come in peace."

Avala peers at her console. "Tactical scans show no lifesigns aboard. I'd say they're automated. It looks like they're redirecting our signal deeper into the Core."

"Got it. I'm trying to calculate the trajectory," Sparks says.

"Sir, they're responding. Audio only."

"Put it through."

There is a rapid clicking sound over the channel, interspersed with some long vowels. Sparks says, "Let me see if I can configure the universal translator. Rout the signal through ops."

"Sir, they're charging weapons."

"Red alert! Shields up! Rylek, reverse course, Warp 3."

Avala says, "Sir, they're right on top of us!" The ship suddenly rocks, and the stars on the viewscreen coalesce into stillness.

"Superspace field has collapsed, sir," Rylek tells him. "We have dropped out of warp."

The door slides open and Captain Rashid walks in briskly, followed by Pon.

"Status report!"

"Three alien ships, Captain," Sparks tells her. "Probably automated, possible mothership nearby. Universal translator is ineffective. They appear to have short-range self-transport technology."

The bridge rocks as the ship is hit by weapons fire. "Shields at 87%," reports Avala.

"Target the closest ship and return fire," Rashid orders, taking her seat. From beneath the ship's saucer section, a pair of phaser beams fire at one of the ships, which blinks out of existence and materializes above _Icarus_ ' top starboard nacelle. It fires a blue beam, which impacts with the ship's shields.

"I can't get a lock," Avala says after another attempt. "Their transporters are too fast." Another impact. "Shields at 66%."

"There," says Rashid, pointing at the triple star formation. "What's that? Can we lose them in there?"

A slight grin appears on Avala's face. "I believe we can, sir. Rylek, how do you feel about attempting a Bolian Sunrise?"

Rylek raises an eyebrow. "Intriguing. It has never been attempted in a trinary star formation before."

"Hang on," Pon interjects as the bridge shakes under a flurry of impacts. "What the hell is a Bolian Sunrise? Captain, these shields do a pretty good job protecting us from stars, but those plasma streams –"

"Do you have a better idea, Pon?" Rashid asks over an alarm.

"No, sir."

"Then Avala, Rylek: do it."

"Yes, sir," says Avala. "Rylek, take us towards the plasma stream, bearing 444 mark 2."

"Taking us in," Rylek replies as the ship dives towards the area between the three stars, where the plasma streams spiral towards the larger star. The three enemy ships pursue close, still firing at _Icarus._

"Shields at 34% and holding," says Avala. "Pon, I need power to the main and shuttlebay tractor beams."

"What are you planning to do with the tractor beams?"

"Pon," Rashid interjects, "do what she says."

"Aye, Captain." She glances at her console. "Gnarf. Hull temperature is rising."

"Adjust shields to compensate."

"Doing what I can, Captain, but with only 30% shields, there's only so much I can do."

The two stars are now to the ship's starboard, while the large single star looms to their left. The plasma streams twist in front of them.

"Rylek." Avala stares at the viewscreen. "Take us between those plasma streams, maximum impulse."

"Course laid in."

Another alarm goes off. Pon announces, "Hull temperature at 800 Kelvin. I estimate that once we reach 4000 Kelvin, the hull will start to melt. Leading to our deaths."

"Divert power from phasers to shields," Rashid orders. "I think I see what a Bolian Sunrise is."

"Done. Shields up to 65%." After an impact, "Make that 55%."

The hull glows as _Icarus_ shoots between the plasma streams. Rylek corrects course so that the ship flies parallel to a stream, with the other one above them.

Avala grits her teeth. "Initiating Bolian Sunrise."

The fore tractor beam shoots at the plasma stream, letting loose a spray of plasma. The rear tractor beams pull more plasma behind them. It streams towards the enemy ships, which blink forward to miss it. The tractor beams continue to shoot above and below them, leaving a maelstrom of plasma behind _Icarus_. One of the enemy ships is engulfed and detonates, disabling the impulse drive on a second one. It blinks around ineffectually.

"Hull temperature approaching critical!" Pon exclaims. "I can't hold it much longer!"

"Almost got him," Avala says tensely. The rear tractor beams pull the cloud of plasma forward, and it spreads out and overtakes the last ship, which blinks back, passing only through the rear of the cloud. It then blinks away from the plasma streams and flies off away from them.

"Get us out of here, Rylek!" Rashid orders.

"Yes, sir." _Icarus_ flies away from the plasma streams, the hull gradually cooling.

Rashid puts her hands together. "Nice work, you two."

"Thank you, sir," Avala smiles.

"Commander Sparks, track that drone's trajectory."

"Sir," Sparks reports, "a drone is emerging from the plasma stream. Readings are erratic. It looks like they're trying to re-establish contact with the other ship, but their comm system is damaged."

"On screen."

The drone blinks away from the stellar cluster, its hull glowing bright. After a moment, it blinks forward again, drifting aimlessly. After a moment, it blinks again, a shorter distance this time.

"Pon, can you establish a link with their computer system?" Rashid asks.

"Possibly, if we get close enough. I'll have no idea what I'm looking at, though."

"It doesn't matter – download their entire database. I want to run it through the universal translator. With any luck, the linguistic data in there will allow us to communicate with these people." She leans forward. "Rylek, bring us in."

They approach the drone. Pon says, "I'm reading a massive power surge in the drone – it looks like their engines are overloading."

"Get that data!"

"Working on it… done!"

"Rylek, full reverse!"

 _Icarus_ veers away as the drone explodes. The shockwave rattles the bridge. Rashid smiles. "Good work, everyone. Pon, let's run that data."

"Yes, sir," answers the Tellarite. "I estimate it'll take approximately ten hours to complete."

"Good – let's hope they don't come back before we're done. Get me stealth mode, just to be safe. Rylek, let's give that other drone a bit of a head start, then lay in a course to follow them, Warp 1. Don't get too close."

"Aye, sir."

She takes a deep breath. "I'll take the bridge from here. Pon, you're with me. The rest of you, I'd say you've earned a break."

* * *

The lights are out in the crew lounge as Commander Sparks walks in, but the room is bathed in light from the nearby stars. Lieutenant Avala sits alone at a table, eating a salad. Her antennae point towards Sparks as he enters the room, and she smiles. He nods, orders a falafel wrap from the replicator, then approaches her table. "Mind if I join you, Lieutenant?"

"Of course," she replies. He takes a seat. "That was nice work today. I wouldn't have thought to use the tractor beams like that."

"Thanks, Commander. Rylek deserves some credit too - that maneuver required some precision flying."

"No question about that," Sparks agrees.

There is silence for a moment. Then Avala asks, "Are you worried about Dr. Sorensen?"

"Yeah," he answers. "But I don't think we need to lose hope just yet. We've got a lead now, and the captain is determined that we won't leave without her."

"What if we run into more of those drones?"

"I'm confident we'll be able to reach a diplomatic solution."

She smiles. "You're a real optimist."

"I've always found a positive mindset is the best antidote to stress," he tells her. "When you're under a lot of stress, you make mistakes."

They finish their food. She takes a sip of a blue liquid in a small glass.

"Is that Andorian ale?" Sparks asks.

"Yes. My antidote to stress," she chuckles. "Well, one of them."

"Maybe I'll have one too - do we have some here? Is that Sha'hae?"

Avala makes a look of disgust. "God no. no self-respecting Andorian drinks Sha'hae. It's what we call _pir'a'thaii_ \- pinkskin's ale."

"'Pinkskin'?" Sparks asks quizzically. "Hah."

She grins. "I didn't make it up. But if you go behind the counter, there's a bottle of Z'thal'pir. That's real ale."

"Alright, I'll try that." he walks behind the counter. A tall bottle with a label written in Andorian cursive sits between a bottle of Earth wine and a jug of syrupy Tellarite drink. He holds up the ale. "That's it," she confirms.

He returns and pours himself a glass. She holds up her glass and says, " _Se'vai_. May we find Dr. Sorensen."

" _Se'vai_ ," he repeats, and they take a drink. He immediately scowls and coughs a few times.

Avala suppresses a laugh. "Makes Sha'hae seem like water by comparison, doesn't it?"

"You could say that," Sparks says, clearing his throat.

They each take another drink. "So, Commander Sparks, tell me about yourself. We been on this ship for over a month and barely know each other."

"Not much to tell. Born in Nova Scotia, a small but beautiful corner of Earth. Graduated from the Academy, class of '38. Served as a junior science officer on the _Heisenberg_ for five years, transferred to command track, served on _Deep Space Nine_ for six years. Now I'm here."

"Any family? Is there a Mrs. Sparks back home?"

"Hah. There was, but we got divorced ten years ago. The life of a Starfleet officer."

"I'll drink to that." They both raise their glasses and take another drink. Then she narrows her eyes, hesitates a moment, and asks, "Do you want to have sex?"

Sparks coughs. "Pardon?"

She frowns. "Look, I realize that humans have more taboos about that than we do, so if it's inappropriate for me to ask that by human custom, forget I said anything. It's just - we've been on this ship for over a month and I'm losing my mind here."

"No, no, it's alright. But - well, I'm your commanding officer..."

"So? There's no regulation against that. It happens all the time on Andorian ships. It helps morale, and keeps a crew on their toes. Plus, you know, you're the only single guy on the ship besides Rylek."

"What about him? You two seem close... I don't want to cause any problems."

"Oh, I love Rylek. He's an old friend. And I've sometimes thought about it, wondered what it would be like. But, you know, I prefer guys with emotions."

"Fair enough. I guess I just don't usually get involved with crewmates. It complicates things."

"We don't need to 'get involved' - it's just sex. Doesn't need to be complicated at all." she leans forward. "Don't you find me attractive, commander?"

He lowers his voice. "Oh, you're very beautiful, no question about that."

She smiles. "Good. I've been attracted to you since we first met."

"How old are you, Vanda?"

"21. But we Andorians have a shorter lifespan than you do. In human terms, I'd be around 25. You?"

"42." He pauses for a moment. "If we do this, it's all got to be above board. Just sex, and I can't give you any preferential treatment. And I'll need to inform the captain."

"Of course."

He reaches across the table and takes her hand. Her antennae extend towards him. "Very well, Lieutenant Avala. I think we can do this."

"Mm. Acknowledged, Commander Sparks."

"Do you make a habit of coming on to your superior officers?"

"Not usually. But I like it. It's exciting. When I was in the Imperial Guard, our captain took a liking to me. She showed me some things I think you'll enjoy."

"Really. Well, why don't we take this to my quarters?"

"Yes, sir."

They place their dishes in the replicator for reprocessing, then leave the lounge. She reaches for his hand as they walk down the corridor, but quickly drops it to her side when Rylek suddenly comes around the corner.

"Oh. Greetings, Commander, Lieutenant," says Rylek, looking slightly more perplexed than usual. "I thought I might see if you were in the lounge. But, clearly you have been there. And are now leaving. For - your quarters, I suppose."

Sparks glances between the two, at a loss for words. Avala says, "Yes, you just missed us. Tomorrow, maybe? I'm off duty at 2200h."

"Yes. Tomorrow, perhaps."

There is a moment of awkward silence. "Very well, then," Rylek says. "I will continue on my way, and leave you to your - respective activities."

"Goodnight, Rylek," Avala smiles.

"Good flying today, Ensign," Sparks adds.

"Thank you, Commander." Rylek is still for a moment, then abruptly turns and continues on his way.

When he is out of earshot, Sparks whispers, "your quarters are in the other direction."

"I know."

"Do you think he knows? Are you sure he's not going to be upset?"

"First of all, Rylek's a Vulcan."

"I know, but Vulcans can still get upset, can't they?"

She presses herself close to him. "It's fine, Isaiah. Don't worry about Rylek - we're friends, that's all." They continue walking. "You were so awkward just there! It was adorable."

They reach his quarters and step through the door. He takes her in his arms, pushes her against the wall, and kisses her. She runs her hand through his beard.

"You're going to say your commanding officer is adorable?"

"You are adorable!"

"Not ruggedly handsome, for example?"

"Mm. That too." she puts her hand on his chest, and they kiss again, pulling off each other's uniform jackets. She steps back for a moment, and looks around. "So this is how the officers live, is it?"

"A bit more space than you're used to?"

"A bit." She examines a multifaceted crystalline sculpture on his bed stand. "Beautiful."

"Yes, I got that in the Gamma Quadrant. It's a called a fractal tree. It was a gift from a species called the..." he trails off as she pulls off her undershirt and sits on his bed, topless, grinning at him. "Distracted, Commander?"

"Only slightly." He takes off his undershirt and lays her down on the bed, running his hands on her blue skin. "Have you ever been with a human before?"

"No. I was with a Betazoid once. They look a lot like you, but what's downstairs is... different." she breathes deeply as he kisses her neck. "What about you?"

"Never with an Andorian. Just humans, Bajorans... a Dosi once, which was interesting."

She pushes him onto his back and climbs on top of him. "Well, I've heard it said - once you go blue, you never go back."

* * *

 _Captain's Log, supplemental. Dr. Pon is analyzing the computer data we received from the damaged drone, and are following the remaining drone deeper into the Core. It does not appear to have warp capability, but is exceeding our impulse speed by regularly transporting itself further toward its destination. We have matched course and heading and are currently following at Warp 1 near the outer range of our sensors. Its destination remains unknown._

"It's an ingenious mode of transportation," Pon observes, "and avoids entirely the problem of creating a stable warp field. In conjunction with a stable set of relays positioned throughout the galaxy, it could theoretically make warp travel obsolete."

"A lot could go wrong, transporting a starship full of people," Rashid muses, gazing at the passing stars.

"Yes, well, that's what they said about warp travel," Pon huffs.

"Aha!" exclaims Alomar from his station. "Look at this! Computer, send the readout from my workstation to the main viewscreen."

A still image of the crew sitting at the briefing table appears in front of them. "This is just before Susan disappeared?" Rashid asks.

"Yes," Alomar says. "Computer, play forward, one twentieth speed."

The crew talks and gestures in slow motion. Suddenly the lights go out and Sorensen, Rylek, Avala, and Sparks disappear. "Freeze," Alomar says.

"It's just the three of us left," Rashid observes.

"We're also the ones who were on the other ship," Alomar says. "And were exposed to epsilon radiation. There are still residual levels left in our system. Which would also mean..." He taps his control panel, and the image shifts to the other Rashid in sickbay. "Our patient is still there as well."

"We can't beam through it without pattern enhancers either," Pon notes. "Good observation, doctor."

Alomar raises an eyebrow. "Thank you, Pon, for the rare praise."

"I'm not finished. I was going to point out that it doesn't explain why the other three rematerialized but not Sorensen."

"Maybe they only wanted to keep one of them," Alomar suggests. "But why Susan?"

"She intentionally irradiated her ship," Rashid says, staring at her double on the viewscreen. "The other captain did. So they couldn't take anyone else."

Pon says, "So they couldn't take her, you mean. No one else was on that ship."

"Ah, but if we were still irradiated ourselves, could they have taken us?" Alomar counters. "And the shuttle was missing. Perhaps the rest of the crew escaped in it."

"We wouldn't get far in that shuttlepod without the SIM," Pon says. After a moment of thought, she continues, "It does make a certain amount of sense, though. I'm thinking about the cyberattack on that other ship. They just took everything they could get their hands on. It shows a certain carelessness. Maybe they just grabbed the four of them, and sent everyone but Susan back. Decided they only needed one. Still, not much time to make that call."

The turbolift opens, and the other Rashid comes through the door, staring at the image of herself on the viewscreen with a look of shock. The crew stands and Alomar walks toward her. "You should be in sickbay."

"The globe," she says. "On my ship. Where is it? Did you leave it there?"

"Yes," Captain Rashid answers. "Why? What is it?"

"I can't tell you. But we need it. We have to go back."

Rashid steps towards her double. "No. you're going to tell me what it is. Otherwise I'm not bringing it on my ship."

"I can't tell you. But I can tell you that we need it."

"Do you know what we're doing right now?" Rashid views her sceptically.

The other Rashid looks around. "You're following the drone ship. And you're running the data you got from the drones to translate their language." She smirks. "And, if I'm not mistaken, Isaiah and Vanda are having sex."

"What?" exclaims Pon. "No they're not." She reaches for her comm badge. "Pon to-"

Alomar meets Pon's eye and shakes his head. She lowers her hand and says, "Aren't you violating the Temporal Prime Directive by telling us that?"

"Act surprised."

"If you know what we're doing," the captain says to her, "then you know it's our only lead for what happened to Susan. Unless you give me a reason not to, we need to follow this ship."

"You don't need to stop. Let me take the shuttlepod. I can signal my ship to come to me."

"That ship is barely inhabitable."

"Actually, Captain," Pon interjects, "I've been thinking about that. If we interface the shuttlepod's computer with the other _Icarus_ , we should be able to do a full system reset, and restore the missing data with what we've got on our ship. That should restart the auto-repair cycle. You'd get life support back online, full engine functionality - even the hull plating. It would take a while, but I think you could have basic systems back online within half a day."

"Alright. So I let you take the shuttle, and you go signal the other ship, start the repair process, and you get that globe. But why? Why should I trust you when you won't tell me what you're doing?"

Alomar says, "Let me go with her, Captain."

She turns to him. "I need you here, Tomas."

"She's my patient, Captain. I need to monitor her. And I think she's right about the object - I believe if we knew what it is, we'd have a better idea of what's going on."

Rashid looks to Pon. "And you have no idea what the object is?"

Pon brings the data up at her station. "No idea." She taps the screen. "Well, actually..."

"What is it?"

"I didn't notice this before, but there's a certain similarity at the molecular level between that object and the hull of the drones. It's not exactly the same, but it's probably not a coincidence."

To her double, Rashid asks, "Is that why they attacked us? Were they looking for that object?"

"Again: I can't tell you. But we need to get it. You need to trust me."

Rashid takes a deep breath, then looks around the room. "Alright. Tomas, you'll go with her. Drop comm relays as you go - I want to stay in contact at all times."

Her double stares into her eyes. "Thank you. You're making the right choice."

"I hope so."

* * *

Commander Sparks' alarm beeps. Groggy, he opens his eyes to see Avala lying next to him on her side, smiling. He smiles back. "Hey you."

"Hey you," she replies. "I got you something." she points past him at his nightstand. There is a covered bowl and a kettle with steam drifting from it.

"Is that raktajino?" he asks incredulously.

"Ketha Province blend, just the way you like it."

"How did you know?"

"You're constantly drinking it on the bridge. I notice these things." She smiles. "Like I said, I had a bit of a crush on you. And in the bowl, there's Andorian iced pudding. It's a bit of a ritual in the Imperial Guard - when you sleep with a superior officer, you make sure they wake up to iced pudding. I think it's to make sure they don't wake up regretting it."

"Well, I don't think you need to worry about that." He puts his hand on her shoulder and pulls her in for a kiss. "Oh god, I'm sore from that. You have a lot of stamina, Lieutenant."

"You did alright yourself."

"Just alright? I seem to recall you telling me otherwise last night."

She runs a finger down his arm. "Maybe a bit better than alright." She kisses him again. Then he sits up and tries a spoonful of the yellowish pudding. "Mm. that is delicious." He holds the spoon towards her. "Do you want any?"

"Maybe a bit. I ate about an hour ago."

"An hour ago? How long have you been awake?"

"About five hours. You humans sleep your whole lives away! I've been to the holodeck already for a swim, did a diagnostic on the phasers... I came back about twenty minutes ago."

"I slept through you leaving and coming back? Wow - I guess you really wore me out." He eats some more pudding. "Damn. Remind me to transfer to an Andorian ship."

"For the pudding or the blue girls?"

"I could get used to both," he says. "Plus, I know how to do that antenna thing now."

"Mm. Yes you do. You have a natural talent for it."

He pours a cup of raktajino. "So what now? Do we do this again?"

"Well," she says, lying back in bed, "normally I'd say no, so you don't get the wrong idea about what this is. But let's face it - if we're going to be on this ship together, I'm going to want it again. I just don't want you going all human on me."

"Going all human on you? What does that mean?"

She hesitates. "Well, you know, in my experience, humans get all weird when you sleep with them. They get jealous and clingy, and they always make a huge deal out of it."

"I thought you'd never been with a human!"

"I haven't. But my friends have and it's always the same thing. It starts out with a fun, casual night, and then they're constantly contacting you, wanting you to meet their parents and go on a trip to some place called Italy and that sort of thing."

"Alright. First of all, Italy is great. You would love it. And second, we're on the same page about this, Vanda. We had a great night. We can leave it at that for now."

"Good." She sits up and wraps her arms around him from behind. "Well, you know where I'll be."

They kiss one more time, then she crawls out of bed. He sips his raktajino as he watches her dress. Soon she is in full uniform. She stands at attention in front of him. "If that will be all, Commander?"

He stands up and kisses her once more. "Dismissed, Lieutenant."

She gives him one last knowing glance and then leaves him to finish his raktajino. He takes a sonic shower, gets dressed, and takes the turbolift to the bridge. Rashid and Pon are there already, gathered around the communication terminal. Rylek is at the helm. He glances at Sparks, then quickly looks back at his console.

Rashid turns to him. "Ah, Commander Sparks! There have been some new developments since your last shift."

"There have indeed," Pon smirks. Sparks glances at her, confused.

"We've finished the analysis of the data from the drone, and we think we've got their language analyzed," Rashid continues, ignoring Pon. "And not a moment too soon. Let's have our friends on screen, maximum magnification."

The viewscreen displays a grey vessel amid a cluster of stars. It is roughly spherical in shape, with metallic blue-grey coils spiralling around a darker centre.

"What is that?" he asks.

Pon answers, "We're not sure, but whatever it is, it's massive. Approximately eight hundred kilometers in diameter. Could be a ship, or a station, or maybe something in between. We've been calling it the mothership."

"Really. And you have their language analyzed?"

"Mostly," says Rashid. "We've got the written form for sure, and we think we've also got verbal. Plus some navigational data. Here's what they were saying when you encountered the drones."

She taps the console. A voice says, "Who are you who disturbs the Equilibrium? Leave this place. Leave the realm of the Gla'hua. The Equilibrium must be preserved."

"Gla'hua is what they call themselves," Rashid adds.

"What is the Equilibrium?"

"We have no idea. But that's not all. Pon thinks that globe on the other _Icarus_ has a similar composition to the drones. And our guest from that ship is convinced that we need it. So she and Tomas took the shuttlepod to signal the other ship and restart the auto-repair sequence."

"You've had a productive shift," he says. "So what's our next move?"

She looks at the ship on the viewscreen. "We want to get close enough to get a scan of it. Then we'll try hailing them, and see if we can get off on the right foot this time." She yawns. "In any event, I don't think I've slept in the last 36 hours. I'm going to call it a day. If you'll come to my ready room, I'll give you the full report."

"Aye, Captain." He follows her into her ready room and she gives him a PADD. Clearing his throat, he says, "Ah - there's something else I wanted to inform you about, captain."

"Sure, Isaiah."

"Well, Lieutenant Avala and myself - well, we've initiated a, um, relationship of a conjugal nature."

"Have you." The captain's face shows no emotion.

"Yes, sir. Er - she initiated it. But our first priority is our duty. It's strictly..."

"Conjugal?"

"Yes, Captain."

She bites her lip, suppressing a smirk. "At ease, Isaiah. You're both adults and Starfleet officers; I trust you to keep this from affecting your duties. With a small crew like this, I assumed something like this would happen sooner or later - the holodeck kind of loses its charm after a while. Although I kind of expected it would be her and Rylek, to be honest."

"I did too. But she insists it's strictly platonic between them."

"Well, he doesn't look like he's even gone through Pon Farr yet. But I appreciate you letting me know about this. I don't blame you - she's an attractive woman!"

"Thanks, Zia." He turns to leave.

"Oh, and Isaiah?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"You've got a bit of blue lipstick on your neck."

With a start, he rubs his neck frantically. Rashid laughs, snorting.

* * *

 _Chief medical officer's log, supplemental. We have been on the shuttlepod for nine hours, with the expectation of making contact with the other ship within a few hours. My patient has slept for most of the journey. Her rad count is approaching normal levels, and I expect to be able to give her a clean bill of health within days. I am less certain about her psychological condition. The night terrors appear to have subsided, but whatever her ordeal was, she refuses to discuss it._

"Turkish coffee, Tomas?"

He turns from the conn. "Yes, please. You're awake, I see. Did you sleep well?"

"As well as can be expected. That cot is less comfortable than your biobed. But, more comfortable than escape pod 4. What's our status?"

" _Icarus_ should be here soon. Your _Icarus_ , that is."

"Good." She sits at ops next to him. After a moment, he clears his throat and says, "I suppose you're not going to tell me what that globe is."

"Honestly," she replies, "I have no idea what it is or where it came from."

"But you know it will help us."

"Things can only happen the way they happen."

"Indeed."

She stares at her console for a moment, then looks at him. "Can I ask you something, honestly?"

"Of course."

"Do you believe I'm who I say I am? That I'm Zia, your old friend?"

He regards her for a moment. "Other than the utter implausibility of the situation, I've had no reason to doubt you."

"I'm glad to hear it. Sometimes I wonder myself if I'm still that person."

He strokes his chin. "Do you remember how we met?"

"Of course. Starfleet Academy, second year. We were both leads in the Academy production of Rent. I was Joanne, you were Collins." she smiles. "And there was the cast party. I was really high, and I told you I loved you. But you'd gotten into the Saurian brandy and only had eyes for that junior - the half-Klingon, what was his name?"

Alomar flushes slightly. "Yes, that's accurate. At least, from what I remember." He looks at her again. "You know, if you could give me some indication of what happened to you, it would be helpful. For both of us. I am your doctor; you can tell me in confidence. What happened to you? Why are you so set on finding this globe?"

"Tomas, I..." She swallows hard, and tears well in her eyes. "I've been in space for a long time. Alone."

"How long?"

"Weeks. Maybe months. I don't know – all the astrometric data on the computer was gone, so I had no idea where I was… when I was…"

He regards her with sympathy. "Extreme isolation can be very damaging to one's psychological health. Once we get back to Federation space, I know some very fine counsellors. I'll introduce you to them. It's going to be alright."

"And my crew," she continues, her voice cracking. "I still don't know what's going to happen to them. To you. And… and I've seen things."

He puts his hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, Zia. Tell me."

"I've… I've seen all of this before. Everything. And I know what's coming. I know what she has to do. I know what all of you have to do, but I don't know how it's going to turn out." Her voice catches in her throat. "But it doesn't matter. None of it does. I… I…" She looks down.

He takes her hands. "Talk to me, Zia."

She looks up at him, tears shining in her eyes. "I've seen the end. Of everything."

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. And The Stars Looked Down, Part 3

_Total darkness surrounds Captain Rashid._

 _Groping ahead of herself with one hand, she crawls forward, her eyes wide, trying to take in any trace of starlight. But there is none._

 _Meter by meter, she crawls through the darkened Jeffries Tube, the engineering kit in her hand dragging behind her. It makes a clattering noise against the floor, breaking the oppressive silence._

" _Shit."_

 _She clutches her head. There is a stickiness in her hand where it collided with a low-hanging bulkhead fragment. She ducks and crawls underneath, her hand eventually making contact with a solid surface. A hatch._

 _Blindly, she reaches to the right of the hatch. There is a small compartment, which she opens and pulls out a magnetic handle. She attaches it to the hatch, and it slides open._

 _Awkwardly, she turns around and crawls down the ladder, the engineering kit still in hand. Eventually she reaches the bottom. There is another hatch. Once again, she tries to pull it open._

" _You can't go in there," says the computer. "There's radiation."_

" _The hell I can't," she snaps back._

" _Your rad count is already approaching dangerous levels."_

" _Yeah well, maybe I'll glow in the dark and I won't bang my head on your broken parts. Let me in. Authorization Rashid Pi Alpha Seven."_

" _You'll regret it," the computer warns her._

" _You know, one of these days I'll get sick of arguing with you and delete your damn Tellarite personality subroutines."_

" _You keep saying you're going to do that, but you never do."_

 _Rashid slides the hatch open. Her eyes take a moment to adjust to the starlight pouring in through the portholes in the upper section of Main Engineering. In the center of the room, the warp core glows weakly. Injecting herself with a hypospray, Rashid crawls out of the Jeffries Tube. She climbs a ladder to the upper catwalk and walks past a row of dead consoles. One of them has a stack of used plates and a few glasses on it. She smirks. "Way to clean up your shit, Pon."_

 _Opposite the warp core is a large, domed cylinder covered with inactive readouts. She kneels and opens the engineering kit. "Computer, prepare to re-initialize the superspace inversion matrix."_

" _There's not anywhere near enough power for that."_

" _Well, divert all available power to it."_

" _From what? Life support?"_

" _If you have to."_

" _This is sort of stating the obvious, but you need that."_

 _She scowls. "So I can continue to sit here, dead in space, and bicker with you while the remaining systems go dead one by one? No thanks." She removes a console on the side of the SIM and attaches a portable battery to it. "How long can I survive with the oxygen left on the ship?"_

" _At best, four or five days. But, need I remind you, I have no astrometrics data available whatsoever. Even if you get warp drive back online, I can't tell you how to get back to Federation space."_

" _And yet your winning personality is still intact. You have external sensors, don't you?"_

" _Barely. Enough to keep from flying into something."_

" _Can you extend it?"_

" _I'll try. But –" The computer's voice breaks into garbled noise._

" _Computer?" Rashid calls, looking nervously around Engineering. The noise continues. "Computer!"_

" _This is the computer. What do you want?"_

 _She manages a tight-lipped smile. "Nothing. Just wanted to hear your voice." She walks towards a porthole and peers out at the dense starscape of the Galactic Core. Far off, to the starboard aft of the ship, the starfield dims._

" _That way. That's our way out. Can you get me helm control?"_

" _I'm the aux computer. I'm not designed for that. I'd have to delete most of my systems maintenance subroutines in order to free up the space."_

" _No need for systems maintenance if you haven't got any systems left. Delete everything but warp systems, the SIM, and whatever sensors we've got. Then fire up the SIM and take us to Warp 1."_

" _Fine. Deactivating environmental systems. Hang on to something."_

 _The floor seems to recede from Rashid's feet as she becomes weightless. Pon's dishes drift lazily up from the console. The SIM flickers a few times, then lights up. With a loud hum, the warp drive initializes._

 _Rashid pushes herself to an operational console and activates it, plotting a course towards the dimmer region of space._

" _Looks like we'll be navigating by the stars," she says to no one in particular._

* * *

 _Captain's Log, Stardate 136475.2. We are within hailing range of the alien mothership. They do not appear to have detected us. Sensors are unable to penetrate its hull, so our information about it is very limited. We've configured the universal translator and are preparing to make first contact. If it goes well, we hope to negotiate Dr. Sorensen's return and win our first ally in the Galactic Core. If it goes badly, we're prepared to make a run for it at maximum warp._

"Is everyone ready?"

Rashid looks around the bridge. Sparks gives her a nod. Avala stares intently at her console, her antennae raised. Pon is glaring intently at the mothership on the viewscreen, while Rylek guides the ship forward, his expression unreadable.

"Commander Pon, drop stealth mode. Lieutenant Avala, open a channel to the mothership."

"Channel open, Captain."

She stands. "This is Captain Zia Rashid of the Federation starship _Icarus_. We are explorers in this sector; we mean you no harm."

Avala reports, "They're responding, Captain. Audio only."

"Put it through."

A computerized facsimile of the alien's voice says, "You, who intrude in the realm of the Gla'hua. You, who disrupt the Equilibrium and anger the Outsiders. You will be destroyed beyond the power of memory to recall."

"Captain," says Sparks, "It looks like there are airlocks opening along the equatorial region of that ship. I think they're launching more drones."

"Shall I go to warp, Captain?" Rylek asks.

"Stand by." Rashid addresses the aliens. "Gla'hua ship: we had no intent to intrude in your realm or disrupt the Equilibrium. We are explorers, and we're looking for one of our crew. We don't want to fight you."

"The Equilibrium must be maintained," the voice declares.

"Drones launching," Sparks announces. "I'm getting 15… 20…"

"Steady," Rashid tells the crew. To the Gla'hua, "Tell us how we can help preserve the Equilibrium. Who are the Outsiders?"

"No response," says Avala anxiously. "Drones entering weapons range in fifteen seconds."

Gritting her teeth, Rashid ventures, "Gla'hua ship, we need your help. I think you're right that we've angered the Outsiders. I think they've taken one of our crew. Please tell us what we can do to get her back."

The drones come to a halt. Some of them blink outwards, surrounding _Icarus_. The alien voice says, "It is your intrusion which has angered the Outsiders."

"Have you spoken to them?" Rashid asks. "Are they on your ship?"

"The Outsiders do not speak. They live in shadows, and take whom they please, and return them when they please."

She stares warily at the drones surrounding the ship. "Have they taken any of your people?"

"Many are taken, some are returned. So the Equilibrium is disrupted."

"Maybe we can work together," she tells them. "Our equilibrium has also been disrupted by the loss of our crew member. If we work together, maybe we can get our missing people back."

There is a long pause. Rashid glances at her crew, who sit tensely at their consoles.

Eventually, the voice says, "We will discuss this with you, Federation. We will bring one of you, and one only, aboard the Gla'hua. We will transport a beacon onto your ship. One of you will take it, and it will transport you to the Gla'hua."

Rashid breathes a sigh of relief. "Understood. Thank you, Gla'hua ship."

"Do nothing more to disrupt the Equilibrium," the voice answers.

Avala says, "They've closed the channel."

Pon turns around. "How did you know it was those 'Outsiders' who took Sorensen?"

"Just a hunch," she replies. "We know the beings who took Sorensen have subspace transporters and possible telepathic abilities; it didn't seem to fit this species."

"Captain," says Sparks, "I should be the one who goes aboard that ship."

"I agree with you this time, Commander. A little bit of scientific diplomacy, right?"

"Can't be worse than the Dominion," he grins.

An alert chimes on Pon's terminal. "It looks like they transported the beacon into the cargo bay."

Rashid says to Sparks, "Go get one of the environmental suits. We don't know what kind of climate you'll be facing on that ship. Plus, the built-in pattern enhancer might help us keep track of you."

"Aye, Captain."

She gives him a long look. "I don't have to tell you to be careful over there. I get the feeling they don't like surprises. Your top priority is to convince them to pool their resources with us to try to contact these Outsiders and get our people back. And don't stay any longer than you need to. In the meantime, Pon and I have a theory that epsilon radiation interferes with their subspace transporters; we're going to look into developing a countermeasure."

"Understood. Good luck, Captain."

"You too, Isaiah."

As Sparks walks towards the turbolift, Avala subtly grabs his hand, and they lock eyes for a moment. Rashid pretends not to notice.

* * *

Sparks materializes underwater.

He is in a very wide chamber coated by what appears to his environmental suit's tricorder to be phosphorescent blue-green algae. The chamber is illuminated by long slits in the faraway walls from which starlight streams in, dissipating in the dark water.

"Glad I went with the environmental suit," he says to himself.

He activates a flashlight on his wrist and looks around. He is floating somewhere in the middle of the chamber, sinking gradually. The floor of the chamber is deep beneath him, its blue-green surface barely visible. Tall, algae-covered tower-like structures rise from the darkness below him.

He activates the suit's comm unit. "Sparks to _Icarus._ "

No response. "Damn," he mutters.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees movement and turns the light towards it. An alien swims towards him, a large, fish-like creature with a wide, flat head with black eyes on the sides. Two more eyes sit on stalks near the back of its head, and it has four fin-like hands on long arms protruding from its streamlined body. It appears to have legs with webbed feet pressed against a long, finned tail. The creature is perhaps two meters in length. It is dark green in colour, with scarlet tattoos in geometric designs on its head and body. It holds a long, grey pike which Sparks' readings suggest is an energy weapon.

Sparks faces the alien. "Greetings," he says. "I am Commander Isaiah Sparks."

The alien regards him with what appears to be curiosity. "Commander Isaiah Sparks," comes a voice rendered by the universal translator as the alien's mouth moves. "I am Xu'ab, hand-guider of the Gla'hua. You will follow me. The Decider wishes to speak with you."

Xu'ab swims ahead of him, and Sparks powers the jets on his boots and wrists to follow the alien. He asks, "What does it mean to be 'hand-guider of the Gla'hua?'"

Xu'ab's eyestalks rotate to look at him. "I guide the Hand of the Gla'hua when it strikes that which would threaten the Equilibrium. You met the Hand before, probing your strength and characteristics. To our surprise, you escaped. Your ship is in the Gla'hua's Hand now, but my wrath was stayed by the Decider."

"I see," Sparks replies. "We are grateful for the Decider's mercy."

"It was contrary to my advice."

As they move towards the towers, Sparks asks, "When you say Gla'hua, do you refer to your people or to your ship?"

"The Gla'hua is us, and we are it. All exist in the Equilibrium."

"What is the Equilibrium?"

"The Equilibrium is totality," Xu'ab answers. "We hatch, we eat, we shit, we spawn, we die. So it has always been, and so it will always be."

"And you believe our presence threatens that?"

"Since you appear to know nothing of the Equilibrium, how can it be otherwise?"

They draw nearer to one of the towers, and Sparks' suit detects two aliens on the side of it, apparently feeding on the algae. He says to Xu'ab, "My people are explorers. We're looking to expand our knowledge of the Universe. Our first rule is to respect the cultures we encounter and avoid interference."

"You have encountered others like us, then?"

"None quite like you," he admits. "What about your people? Do you come in contact with other species here in the Galactic Core?"

"The Gla'hua has seen other intruders to our realm," Xu'ab answers. "But none alive can remember. Our ancestors tell us that an intruder's arrival is foretold by the anger of the Outsiders. Their anger abates when the intruders have been driven out or destroyed by the fury of the Gla'hua."

"I don't think it needs to come to that."

"We shall see."

They reach the top of one of the towers, and come to rest on an algae-coated surface, circular and uneven, perhaps twenty meters across. The edges slope gently downwards before they drop off into darkness. In the center is a raised, hollow cylinder which glows bright blue inside. There is another alien in it, similar to Xu'ab in appearance, but with bright yellow tattoos. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices movement, and sees that there are at least four other aliens swimming above him.

"I am the Decider," says the new alien. "I am the will of the Gla'hua."

"It is an honour to meet you," Sparks says. "I am Commander Isaiah Sparks of the Federation starship _Icarus._ "

The Decider stares at him for a long time. "You say you have knowledge of the nature of the Outsiders?"

"Not much right now. But if we combine our resources, we might be able to figure some things out."

Xu'ab says, "Decider, we should not be trying to learn about the Outsiders. We should destroy these Federation. So has it always been with intruders, and so will it always be."

"I hear your words, Xu'ab," the Decider replies slowly. "Bring me Mab'aa."

Xu'ab protests, "You should have nothing to do with that purposeless one, that lunatic."

"I am the Decider. Obey me, hand-guider."

Xu'ab's four arms spread wide. "I will obey."

As the other alien swims away, the Decider says to Sparks, "Tell me of the Federation."

"We are an alliance of over two hundred worlds, far from here. We are peaceful peoples who value scientific discovery. My ship, the _USS Icarus_ , is the first Federation expedition to the Galactic Core. We mean you no harm, and are only seeking to better understand this region of space."

"And the Outsiders have taken one of you."

"That's right. We'd very much like to get her back."

Xu'ab returns, followed by another alien. This one has hard, scaly skin, but its biosigns match the other aliens.

"Mab'aa," says the Decider. "This is Commander Isaiah Sparks. He seeks knowledge of the Outsiders."

Mab'aa draws close to Sparks, reaching out and touching the faceplate of his environmental suit. "I have communed with the Outsiders. They have spoken to me many times over the course of my life."

"Who are they?"

"They are not like you or me. They do not live in the material realm. But they seek to know us. And by knowing us, they create us."

Xu'ab says loudly, "That is madness. We cannot be created. We have always existed."

"We exist in chaos," Mab'aa continues, ignoring Xu'ab. "The Outsiders bring order through their observation."

"Mab'aa," the Decider says, "your strange ideas fascinate me. But is the Equilibrium not the supreme order of things?"

"There is no Equilibrium," answers Mab'aa, eyes closed. "There is only decay. The Outsiders have shown me the end of all things. The death of the Gla'hua."

"Nonsense," retorts Xu'ab. "Proof of the Equilibrium is all around us."

Sparks interjects, "If I may, I'd like to talk more about the Outsiders. Mab'aa, when you 'commune' with them, do they physically take you places? Or is it telepathic content?"

The cylinder surrounding the Decider suddenly goes dark. "What is this?" the Decider asks.

Sparks activates his tricorder. "I can't tell for sure, but it looks like the power output on your system has dropped by eighty percent."

"It is the Outsiders," Mab'aa says.

"Explain yourself," the Decider demands. "What do they want?"

"They have foretold this. Just as they have foretold the end of the Gla'hua. There is nothing that can be done. Things must happen as they happen."

Xu'ab turns to the Decider. "It is the presence of this alien that has caused this! And Mab'aa's ravings. Decider, allow me to kill them."

"No," says the Decider. "First we must consult the maintainers. Take them to a dry chamber while we learn the extent of this happening."

"Hang on," Sparks protests. "We can help you here. Let me contact my ship. We can –"

Xu'ab strikes him with his pike, and a powerful shock runs through his body, overloading his environmental suit. His vision spins, and he loses consciousness.

* * *

 _Captain's log, supplemental. Commander Sparks is aboard the Gla'hua ship attempting to negotiate an agreement to share information about the 'Outsiders,' who I believe have abducted Lieutenant Sorensen. We've been unable to contact Commander Sparks since he transported to the ship, and we remain surrounded by Gla'hua drones, leaving us in the uncomfortable position of having no options except to wait._

Captain Rashid paces absently in front of her chair. "Still no way to scan through their hull?"

"None, Captain," Pon answers. "But I'm getting to understand that ship a bit better. See that coil that wraps around the inner sphere? It seems to be an energy collector which gathers power from nearby stars and feeds it to some kind of power source. In an environment like the Galactic Core, it could keep the ship going indefinitely."

"What about the drones?" asks Avala. "How are they powered?"

"I'd say they have an internal battery which is charged aboard the mothership," Pon answers.

"Which means they'll have to recharge sometime," Rashid muses.

"Eventually. But from what I can tell, all of their technology is extremely power-efficient. But I do have an idea. If we can disrupt their communication with the mothership, we may be able to take them offline. I've been analyzing the data we have in the main computer; with some time, I could probably access their communications and shut them down."

"Make that your priority," the captain tells her. "If diplomacy fails, we'll need options."

"On it," Pon replies. Her console chirps. "That's strange. I'm getting some unusual readings from the mothership…"

Suddenly, Sorensen and a large, scaled alien materialize in the center of the bridge. Avala pulls her phaser and points it at the alien as the two look around, disoriented.

"Susan!" Rashid exclaims, stepping forward and putting her hands on Sorensen's shoulders.

"Captain…? What happened?"

"We've been trying to get you back. What do you remember?"

Sorensen looks stunned. "We were in a briefing… I must have blacked out, I feel like I've been asleep…"

Rashid looks at the alien, who stands on two legs like a bird, a fish-like tail reaching the floor behind it, eye stalks are rapidly peering around the room. Avala regards it warily, phaser drawn. Rashid addresses it, "I am Captain Rashid. You are on the Federation starship _Icarus_. Who are you?"

" _Icarus_?" the alien says. "Is Isaiah here?"

Rashid raises an eyebrow. "Commander Sparks is aboard the Gla'hua ship right now. How do you know his name?" She signals Avala to lower her phaser, and the Andorian reluctantly complies.

"Forgive me," the alien says. "The Outsiders have brought me here for reasons unknown. I am Mab'aa."

"Are you a Gla'hua?" Rashid asks.

"Yes." Mab'aa looks around. "I have never been away from the Gla'hua. So strange."

Sorensen vomits on the bridge floor, and it is promptly dematerialized by the computer. Rashid says, "Rylek, take her to sickbay and contact Dr. Alomar. Susan, I'll be right with you."

Sorensen nods, wiping her mouth, and Rylek helps her to the turbolift. To Mab'aa, Rashid asks, "You said the Outsiders brought you here. What can you tell me about them? And how do you know Commander Sparks? Did you speak to him aboard your ship?"

Mab'aa says, "Yes, I did. The Decider summoned me to speak with him when he was brought aboard the Gla'hua. But the Gla'hua took ill, and Isaiah and I were blamed for angering the Outsiders, and they took us to the dry chambers. But I have foreseen my role in reversing the sickness. And Isaiah… we escaped from the chambers and reached the Mind of the Gla'hua. And I read its patterns. That's when the Outsiders took me."

"Sparks has had a busy few minutes over there," Pon observes.

"I do not understand," Mab'aa says.

Rashid says to Avala, "Hail the Gla'hua ship."

Avala activates the comm controls. After a moment, "No response."

"Keep trying." To Mab'aa, "You said the Outsiders sent you here. Can you communicate with them directly?"

"No," says Mab'aa. "But when they bring me to their realm, I can feel their thoughts, their desires. They know how events will unfold – I have seen images in their minds. And also… I have seen you before, Zia Rashid. I saw you in their realm."

"That can't be right. I've been here the whole time. Unless…" She frowns. "There are two of me right now. It's a long story. But Mab'aa, if you'll join me, I think we may be able to find some answers in Sickbay. Pon, you have the bridge."

"Aye, Captain," says the Tellarite as Rashid enters the turbolift, with Mab'aa's tail awkwardly fitting around her.

* * *

" _Are you serious?" Rashid asks. "No."_

" _It is an empirically provable fact," the computer says._

 _Rashid is in an environmental suit on the exterior of_ Icarus _, which is stationary near a cluster of red dwarf stars. She is walking on the port side of the saucer section towards the bow of the ship._

" _Ugh. You're wrong." She scans the hull. A microfissure runs underneath her feet, lengthwise on the saucer towards its fore section. "Picard was better by far."_

" _James Tiberius Kirk was the most decorated Starfleet officer of all time. In addition to first contact with many cultures and discovering countless worlds and spatial phenomena, Kirk was instrumental…" The computer's voice skips a few times, "was instrumental to the Khitomer Accords, defeated Khan Noonien Singh, and saved the Earth from highly advanced alien probes on two separate occasions."_

 _Rashid follows the microfissure along the saucer. "Mm-hmm. But Picard! Come on. Let's see – he made first contact with arguably more species than Kirk, including the Q and the Ferengi. He discovered the common ancestor of many of the species of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, stopped a Romulan-backed coup in the Klingon Empire and a Romulan invasion of Vulcan… oh yes, and he travelled back in time and saved Zefram Cochrane from the Borg!"_

 _The microfissure leads to a fracture in the hull, ten centimeters across. The internal atmosphere of the ship is rushing out and dissipating ahead of her. "Found the hull breach. Are you reading this?"_

" _Yes," replies the computer. "The matter projectors are offline; you need to seal that breach yourself."_

 _She looks around. A few meters away, a blast crater has broken a section of the outer hull plating. "There. Can I use the broken hull plating there?"_

" _Yes. The inner hull has not been breached there."_

" _On my way." Rashid begins walking over. "Besides. Kirk was a loose cannon, notorious for violating Starfleet regulations, including the Prime Directive. If we're talking about the best captain of the starship_ Enterprise _, it matters whether the person represented the epitome of Starfleet ideals. Picard was a man of principle, a diplomat. A scholar, even."_

" _Kirk defeated a Gorn in single combat."_

 _Rashid chuckles as she cuts the section of hull loose with her environmental suit's phaser. It comes loose in her hands._

" _But Kirk was also quite well-read, particularly in Euro-American human culture – particularly in Euro-American human culture – particularly in Euro-American human culture," the computer continues, malfunctioning and repeating itself. "And he was known for his sexual promiscuity as well."_

 _Rashid walks along the hull, carrying the weightless piece of duranium above her head. "Are we bringing sex appeal into this? Because if we are, I still say Picard all the way."_

 _She reaches the hull breach and sets the piece of metal down next to it. "Is there any way to stop the air from coming out of there?"_

" _No. As I said before, internal forcefields and matter projectors are offline."_

" _Fine. I can do this." She plants an end of the sheet of metal at her feet, and pushes it down against the flow of air._

" _Very well," the computer says. "What about the Battle of Wolf 359? As Locutus of Borg, Picard destroyed forty Federation ships."_

 _Pushing hard to lower the sheet of metal, Rashid grunts, "Doesn't count. Wasn't him. Borg. And, he resisted… assimilation… to give the command to shut the cube down." She covers the breach and begins to weld the fragment to the hull using her phaser._

 _Suddenly, the fragment breaks loose, throwing her to the ground. It drifts above her head._

" _Shit," Rashid says, grasping for it. She disables the magnetic grip on her boots and pushes herself towards it._

" _What are you doing?" the computer asks. "Turn your grips back on!"_

 _She seizes the piece of duranium and reactivates her boots about two meters above the hull. They pull backwards, weakly at first, but increasing in speed until she was back on the ship's hull._

" _Do_ not _do that," the computer tells her._

" _We've lost enough of_ Icarus _already," Rashid replies. She walks towards the hull breach again and begins forcing the fragment down once more._

" _There is also Jonathan Ar-Ar-Ar-Ar-Archer…" the computer says, malfunctioning again._

" _Yes, yes, Captain Archer, the NX-01." She forces the plate down once again. "We're not talking about him." She begins welding. "Picard. A man of science and of character. A true Renaissance man."_

" _This is an inherently subjective exercise. But your opinion remains wrong," the computer says._

 _She finishes welding. "Is this going to stay when we go to warp? Are any more hull breaches going to open up?"_

" _I'd recommend sealing the microfissures with your phaser."_

" _On it." She fires her phaser ahead of her as she walks along the microfissure. "How much atmosphere did we lose?"_

" _You lost approximately six hours of atmosphere. You should be able to breathe for a little over eight more hours before you need to use environmental suits or escape pods." The computer's voice dissolves into static, then returns, "before you need to use environmental suits or escape pods. Between those, you have an extra three weeks."_

 _She looks above her head at the stars. "They'll find me."_

* * *

 _Chief medical officer's log, Stardate 136475.5. My patient and I are aboard the alternate_ Icarus _. We have reactivated the main computer and the auto-repair sequence has restored life support, but we will not have full functionality for at least six hours. My patient's condition has improved markedly – she is more talkative, and has even been willing to open up about her long period of isolation. However, she remains unwilling to discuss the events that caused her situation, citing the Temporal Prime Directive. It is my opinion that she is indeed Captain Rashid. Or, if not, a most accurate copy, replicating even her most irritating tendencies in three-dimensional chess._

"Checkmate."

"Damn it, Zia, I don't know why I play with you at all."

She smiles. "You want to see if I've lost my edge. You've always been so competitive."

Alomar leans back, scowling at the chess board. "Perhaps I have been letting you win, so that you might regain your self-esteem."

"Mm-hmm."

He looks around the ship's lounge. "Do you suppose the replicators are back online yet?"

"The replicators are occupied with the repair cycle. There are some rations available in the shuttle. Personally, I'm willing to wait. I've had my fill of Starfleet rations for a long, long time."

Alomar considers his options. "You may be right. Personally, right now, I could stand to –"

His comm badge chirps. " _Icarus_ to Dr. Alomar," comes Captain Rashid's voice.

He taps it. "Alomar here."

"Good news, Tomas – Susan's back. She materialized on the bridge without warning a few minutes ago. I'd like to do a full medical exam. Are you able to holo-link right now?"

"Certainly. Stand by." He looks at Rashid. "Duty calls. Although, I suppose you remember all of this."

"I do." She stands. "I should probably check the status on repairs. See you soon."

"I will contact you when I am done," he tells her, and she leaves. He takes off his comm badge and removes the two asymmetrical gold trapezoids from behind the delta shield outline. He attaches the trapezoids to his temples and says, "Activate holo-link to _USS Icarus_ Sickbay."

His vision blurs, and when it re-focuses, he is standing in Sickbay. Rashid and Rylek are standing over Sorensen, who is laying in a bio-bed. Behind them is a large, scaly, fish-like alien.

"Ah, Tomas," Rashid greets him. "Good of you to join us. This is Mab'aa of the Gla'hua." She holds a medical tricorder, and Alomar takes it into the holographic representation of his hand.

"Hello, Dr. Alomar," says Sorensen weakly.

"Hello, Susan," he says, scanning her. "It is good to see you again." To Rashid, "I see you've been successful."

"Not exactly. We sent Isaiah over to the Gla'hua ship and lost contact. Less than an hour later, Susan just appeared on the bridge, along with our guest. He… or she, maybe? I'm not sure. Anyway, Mab'aa claims that I was there with the aliens. But I certainly haven't been there with them. What about the other Rashid? Has she been in contact with any aliens?"

"No," he replies, continuing to scan Sorensen. "She's been with me the whole time."

"Odd."

He closes the tricorder and says to Sorensen, "You're in good health." He injects her with a hypospray. "This should help with the nausea."

"Thank you, Doctor."

Alomar turns to Mab'aa, tricorder in hand. "Do you mind? I'd like to make sure you're not suffering any ill effects from our atmosphere."

"Do what you will," Mab'aa replies.

Alomar scans the alien. "Fascinating," he says after a moment. "Your lungs are capable of breathing our air, but you'll need to return to water soon." To the captain, "Mab'aa's species is amphibious, capable of surviving on land for periods of time but requiring water regularly. I'll program the holodeck to create a suitable environment."

"Yes," says Mab'aa. "The thirst is beginning."

Alomar taps his tricorder. "I've sent the data."

"Rylek," says Rashid, "Please take Mab'aa to the holodeck."

"My thanks," Mab'aa tells them.

Rylek leads Mab'aa out of the room. Alomar continues, "To answer your previous question, Mab'aa is a hermaphrodite. The appropriate pronoun is 's/he,' with an emphasis on the separated consonants, and 'hir' or 'hirs.' As I'm sure you know. S/he is also an herbivore, probably feeding on some sort of algae. I have sent the nutritional information to the holodeck as well. Interestingly, Mab'aa's genetic makeup matches some organic compounds we discovered on the other _Icarus_. It would appear from the data that Mab'aa and at least two other Gla'hua were present on that ship at some point."

"Thanks, doctor. Can you tell me anything about what happened to Susan?"

Alomar looks at Sorensen. "Not much that we don't already know. You were subjected to some type of subspace transport; that's for sure. There is one interesting thing, though – your synaptic patterns are similar to someone who has been awake for days at a time."

"That explains my headache," she says.

"But you remember nothing of your experience?"

"It's like…" she begins. "It's like I've been dreaming. Like I've been asleep, but having very vivid, very stressful dreams. You know when you wake up, but you don't feel rested at all because your mind's been going constantly?"

Rashid nods. Alomar tells Sorensen, "It's my opinion that whoever was holding you was probing your mind. I've seen a similar process used by the Orion Syndicate – a victim is rendered unconscious, and then the flow of memories is stimulated and read by a telepath."

"Is there any way to find out who they are, or what they were looking for?" Rashid asks.

"There are some Betazoid hypnosis techniques which are very effective in retrieving unconscious memories, which would allow us to see what memories they accessed. However, we have no Betazoids aboard the ship. There is, however, another way…"

"No," interrupts Sorensen.

"You mean a mind meld," Rashid says. "With Rylek."

"I'm not doing a mind meld," Sorensen declares, her voice wavering. "It's bad enough that these… these beings were probing my thoughts. I won't have that kid seeing all my memories."

Rashid takes Sorensen's hand. "No one is going to force you to do a mind meld, Susan. All I ask is that you think about it. If it works, we'll be able to figure out what the aliens did to you."

"It's not going to happen," she says.

"I respect that. There are other ways."

Alomar looks at the two women. "In the meantime, Dr. Sorensen, I suggest you get some food and a good, long sleep. And please, do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything at all. I'm just a holo-link away."

"Thank you, doctor."

He turns to Rashid. "If that will be all, Captain?"

"Yes, doctor, you are dismissed."

Alomar says, "Deactivate holo-link."

Sickbay dissolves, and he is once again sitting in the lounge of the other _Icarus_. The starlight casts the shadow of the three-dimensional chessboard across the table in front of him.

* * *

Sparks awakens in a dark room lit only by a bed of phosphorescent algae on one wall. It is hot and dry, and the floor and walls are hard metal, with rounded edges. He can see a silhouette of a scaled Gla'hua in a trough of water in a corner.

"Ugh." His environmental suit is gone, along with his comm badge. The Gla'hua raises hir head, eye stalks extended towards him. "Commander Isaiah Sparks. You are alive."

"Yeah… I think I was out for a while there. My head is killing me."

"Out?"

He looks at the Gla'hua. "Out. Unconscious."

"Unconscious? What is that?"

Sparks considers this for a moment. "Like being asleep. Does your species not sleep?"

"I do not know this word 'sleep.' The Gla'hua is always active. We are either alive or dead."

"That's strange. I've never heard of a sentient species that doesn't sleep. But I suppose you'd never have day or night on this ship."

"We do not have those things."

Sparks looks around the room. "We're locked in here, eh?"

"We are. The hand-guiders wanted us dead. There is a sickness affecting the Gla'hua, and they think we caused it."

"They're not very willing to consider other possibilities, are they."

Mab'aa cocks hir head. "According to legend, the Outsiders become wrathful when the Equilibrium is disturbed. This has happened to our ancestors and it is happening now. But there has never been record of a sickness which affects the Gla'hua. And you Federation have arrived."

"And they think correlation equals causation."

"Those concepts are not distinct for my people."

"I see. Anyway, I assure you that my ship had nothing to do with it. Not intentionally, anyway."

"It will be hard to convince the Decider of that without reading the patterns."

"Patterns?"

"I am trained as a mind-maintainer of the Gla'hua. This means I read the Mind's patterns and interpret them."

"What do you mean by the Mind of the Gla'hua?" Sparks asks.

"It is the central control for all of the other parts of the Gla'hua. It sends thoughts through the Hand, Lungs, Heart, and so on in order to animate them."

"Is this ship alive? Or are you speaking metaphorically?"

Mab'aa contemplates the question. "It is not alive like you or I. Instead, it has a greater, nearly eternal life, and we are all parts of its body. Each of us has a purpose."

"Do you have a purpose?"

Mab'aa climbs from the water and stands on the floor. "They say I am purposeless, but I serve a greater purpose. Because of my experiences with the Outsiders, my eyes can see beyond the Equilibrium. They cannot understand it, but their survival depends on me."

"So we need to get out of here, and get to the mind of the ship and see what this sickness is, then?"

"Yes."

Sparks runs his hands along the wall until he finds a large, oval-shaped hatch. There is no mechanism for opening it from the inside. He tries to find something to pry it with, but there are no loose objects in the room. "How do we do that?"

"The other maintainers will come for me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I foretold great upheaval in the Equilibrium. The other mind-maintainers thought me mad, but now they will see what has transpired, and will come to me looking for guidance."

"So I guess we wait." Sparks sits in a corner. "Do you think you can cure this sickness, if we get out?"

"Yes. The Outsiders chose me for the task."

"How are you going to do it?"

Mab'aa is silent for a moment. "I have no idea, Commander Isaiah Sparks. Perhaps you can help me."

He grins. "Call me Isaiah."

"I will."

They sit silently for several minutes. Then Isaiah says, "So, did your people build this ship?"

"No. It has always existed."

"Really? What about a homeworld – where do the Gla'hua come from?"

"We have always lived aboard. According to legend, the Gla'hua has seen the birth of the first stars, the change from galactic sphere to galactic disc, other galaxies passing through and combining with ours."

Sparks strokes his beard. "If that's true, then you are the most ancient civilization we have ever encountered. This ship would have to be billions of years old."

"We do not measure time in that way. For us, there is only the Equilibrium."

"But you said you don't believe in the Equilibrium."

"No. I have seen the death of the Gla'hua – all things must die."

There are sounds from the direction of the hatch, and it suddenly swings open, revealing a small group of Gla'hua, scaled like Mab'aa. One of them says, "We were wrong to doubt you, Mab'aa. The sickness has come. You must tell us what to do."

"We must go to the Mind." S/he points hir eye stalks at Sparks. "This is Isaiah. He will help us."

"The journey will be dangerous," says another Gla'hua. "The hand-guiders have declared us to be purposeless. They seek to kill you, and now they will seek to kill us."

"Do not be afraid," Mab'aa tells them. "The Outsiders have shown me that we will succeed. Let us go."

They stand aside as Mab'aa exits the cell into a darkened corridor. Sparks joins the group as they walk quickly into the darkness.

* * *

Sorensen is lying awake in bed. The bright starlight illuminates her room, and she puts her pillow over her eyes to shut it out.

After a long period of time, she moves the pillow and wipes her brow. "Computer," she says, "increase porthole opacity by 75%. And lower the temperature by three degrees."

The room darkens. But she still cannot sleep. After what seems like hours, she groggily sits up. "Damn it." She fumbles in the dark for the comm badge on her night stand. Tapping it, she says, "Sorensen to Rylek."

"This is Ensign Rylek. What can I do for you, Lieutenant?"

She hesitates. "Am I catching you at a bad time?"

"Not at all, Lieutenant. I was meditating."

"Look, I don't want to interrupt you, but… I was wondering if you'd mind meeting me in the lounge?"

"Of course, Lieutenant."

"Thanks. I'll be right there."

She restores the lighting for her cabin and wipes her eyes. Taking deep breaths to stave off panic, she puts on her uniform and exits her cabin, walking through the empty hallway towards the lounge. When she enters, Rylek has just arrived and is replicating tea.

"Ah. Lieutenant. Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please."

He fixes the tea, and they sit at a table. She sips her tea, then asks, "Did the captain talk to you? About… trying to find out what happened to me?"

"Yes," he says, steepling his fingers. "She believes that a mind meld would help us determine what the Outsiders were looking for. And since I am the only Vulcan on the ship, that task would fall to me."

"That's right."

"She also said that you did not want to do a mind meld."

"Yes. It's… it's nothing personal."

"Of course."

They sip their tea for a moment in silence. Then she asks, "What do you think?"

He looks at the table, then says, "The captain's plan has a certain… logic to it."

She looks at him more closely. "But what do you really think about it? You, personally?"

He stares at her. Eventually, he says, "Lieutenant, I am the ship's pilot. That is the reason I am on this ship. And I am a very well-qualified pilot." He sips his tea. "And I therefore find it difficult not to feel a certain frustration that my abilities are of no use in our current situation. That the only thing I can be of use right now is to perform a mind meld. I have never done a mind meld before. I understand the procedure, but the nuances of Vulcan tradition… I do not believe I am a very good Vulcan."

"Really?" She frowns. "To me you've always seemed very… logical."

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

"Susan. Call me Susan."

He nods. She asks, "Do you think you could find what we're looking for?"

"Perhaps. But I am not sure it would be the most… efficient mind meld ever performed."

She finishes her tea and stares at him for a long time. Eventually she says quietly, "Let's do it. Let's do the mind meld."

"Are you certain?"

She looks at him and clears her throat. "Yes. I want to know who those beings were that probed my mind. If we don't do this, I'll never know. And… and I trust you."

He nods, his eyes wide. "Very well. Allow me to mentally prepare for a moment."

She moves the table aside and sits her chair in front of him, tying her long blond hair behind her head. Eventually, he opens his eyes. "Are you ready?"

"I suppose. Are you?"

"To say that I am ready would be an overstatement. However, I am as prepared as I can be."

She smiles. He reaches out his hands and places his fingers on her temples and cheekbones.

"I… apologize in advance for my lack of expertise."

"It's fine. I'll try to help you, if I can. Just take your time."

He breathes deeply and they both close their eyes. "Your mind… to my mind… your thoughts… to my thoughts…"

She opens her eyes and is staring into her own face, superimposed over Rylek's. She wonders: _Am I seeing through Rylek's eyes?_

 _Yes,_ Rylek's voice echoes in her mind like a memory. _Our minds are now linked._

She looks around the starlit lounge, which looks bizarre and surreal through Vulcan eyes. _Then it worked._

 _It would appear that it has. We should now try to revisit your memories. Let us go back to the briefing room, the moment before you disappeared. Try to recall the room, the crew seated around you…_

Their surroundings shift, and it appears that they are in the briefing room. _Yes. I was arguing with Pon._

The lights go out, and they are in a formless state full of grey, indistinct shapes. The shapes begin to coalesce, and they are on board a different ship, holding a toy horse. _We're on the_ USS Sagan _,_ she thinks. _I grew up here._

The door slides open and an older woman walks in, with short blond hair and grey eyes like Sorensen's. _That is my mother._

"Mommy," Sorensen and Rylek say in a child's voice, "Do you want to play with Horsey and me?"

"I'm sorry, Susan," the woman says. There is a strange rippling behind her, like a localized cloud of heat. "I have some tests to run this evening. Why don't you go play in the holodeck?"

"You never want to play with me," they say.

The older Sorensen becomes a male Vulcan with unkempt hair and a beard. "You must learn to control your emotions, my son."

"Why do we have to control our emotions? It's not fair. I miss Mother. And I know you do too – I saw you crying the other night," they say to the man.

"There is no logic to missing her," the man replies, his voice cracking. "Emotions… emotions make you weak. They make you less of a Vulcan."

 _Rylek, what's happening?_

 _I… This is my memory. I believe that your captors stimulated memories of your childhood, but they triggered memories of my own._

 _Did you see that shape behind my mother?_

 _Yes. I believe it was a telepathic presence._

They are a young woman now, studying stellar cartography charts. A large amount of data flashes before their eyes as a disembodied presence looms over them. She thinks, _Hello?_ It does not reply.

Then they are walking through the corridor behind Sorensen's mother. "I deserved better than a B- on that science test, Mom. You know it."

Her mother stops and faces her. "Are you saying I gave you an unfair mark because you're my daughter?"

They do not answer.

"I think instead of blaming me, you should study harder. I've never been anything but fair to you."

She turns into Rylek's father again. "You cannot get into the Vulcan Science Academy with these marks. You are an intelligent boy; I know you can do better than this."

"Father, I do not want to study science. I want to be a pilot. I want to enter Starfleet."

"Starfleet?" her mother asks. "But what about our research? I told you that you can stay here on the _Sagan_ with me, and the university will count it as equivalent to a bachelor's degree."

"That's your research, Mom," they tell her. "Not mine."

"You don't belong in Starfleet," her mother says.

They sit through countless lectures in Starfleet Academy classrooms, surrounded by strange presences. _The entities appear to be primarily interested in your scientific knowledge and experiences,_ Rylek thinks.

 _Do you think that's why they took me?_ Sorensen wonders.

 _It is a possibility._

Then they are aboard a different ship, on the bridge of the _USS Crazy Horse._ Sorensen is wearing a blue Starfleet uniform displaying the rank of ensign, and is analyzing data from a probe sent into the Galactic Core. Once again, a presence hangs over them, but when they look, all they see is a strange rippling.

"Sir," says the security officer to the Captain, "Romulan warbird decloaking off our port bow."

"Red alert," orders the captain, a Trill. "Damn it, these pirates are getting bolder with each passing year."

 _If they're mainly interested in my scientific knowledge, why do we keep reliving these intense personal memories?_ Sorensen wonders.

 _That is mostly our own doing,_ Rylek thinks. _Emotionally-charged memories possess almost a gravitational pull, drawing our minds to them and making it difficult to leave them._

 _Emotional black holes_ , Sorensen thinks. Gaunt, tattooed Romulans materialize on the bridge, armed with disruptor rifles with bayonets. One of them stabs the captain in the heart, killing him instantly.

 _What is this?_ Rylek thinks.

 _The_ Crazy Horse _was attacked by a rogue Romulan warbird. I was held hostage by them for four days. Their leader, a warlord named D'Tan, was trying to build a fleet to recapture the former Star Empire's territory from the Klingons. They were intercepted by the_ Enterprise, _and forced us to strip the ship down and transport anything of value to their warbird._

She is disconnecting a sensor relay. A Romulan kicks her hard in the side. "Work faster, human bitch."

Then the Romulans are standing together on the bridge, holding whatever technology they can carry. Their leader turns his disfigured face to Sorensen, staring at her with his good eye. Then the Romulans are gone, and a group of Starfleet officers appear in their place, helping the survivors of the ship.

 _I was given a field promotion to Lieutenant_ , Sorensen thinks. _But I resigned from active duty afterwards to start my doctorate._

They are at Starfleet Academy once again, this time in a small seminar room. A tall Vulcan is giving a lecture on the Galactic Core. A number of entities are around the table. _Yes,_ thinks Sorensen. _I can feel that they want to know about the Core. These are lectures by Dr. Chorik, my thesis supervisor._

She is in Chorik's office. "I must say, your thesis is most insightful. I would like you to consider doing a post-doctorate degree with me."

 _I was so excited to work with him,_ she thinks. _He was brilliant, sophisticated…_

Then they are on a Vulcan science ship, discussing data they have collected from an expedition to the edge of the Galactic Core. Then Chorik leans over and kisses them. They close their eyes, and when they reopen them, it is Avala, wearing a red dress, her hand on their chest.

"Rylek," she slurs, "I want this. I know you want me."

"I do want you, Vanda. I… I believe I am in love with you. But you are highly intoxicated right now. It cannot happen this way." They stare at Chorik, who has one hand on their back and the other on the side of her face. "Besides, what about your wife? Your children?"

"Why are you talking about them?" he asks. "Do you want this to happen or not?"

"I do want it," they breathe. "I want it so bad."

Then she is bent over her bed, and he is inside her. When he finishes, she turns around, and it is Rylek. The alien presences surround them.

"There," comes Captain Rashid's voice. "That's Dr. Sorensen?"

They are crying. "Why?" they sob, lying in bed next to Chorik. "What about us? Why can't we be together?"

"Susan, what we have is enjoyable. However, I must keep my family together." They see an image of Chorik with his family at Sorensen's convocation, and an image of Avala and Sparks walking down the hallway of _Icarus_ together away from them. Then they are back in bed once again. "It is the logical course of action. Surely you can see that."

From nowhere, Captain Rashid says, "Send her back to the ship."

And then she is on the bridge of _Icarus_ once again, her crew members looking at her with surprise, which turns to joy.

Rylek ends the meld. They are both sweating. Neither says anything for a moment. Eventually, she says, "Well…"

"That was… informative," Rylek says.

"Yes. Um… I guess we know that they were looking for scientific information..."

"Yes. I detected a great deal of curiosity about galactic formation and astrophysics. And also human… activities. I believe they may have been non-corporeal life forms."

"That would explain it," she says, not meeting his eye.

"Indeed. Also, it appears that Captain Rashid played a role in your release."

"Yeah."

There is another long, awkward pause. Eventually, she says, "I should… I should probably go get some sleep."

"Yes. Me as well."

They stand up and exit the lounge, avoiding eye contact.

* * *

 _Second officer's log, supplemental. We've been under the gun for hours and I'm ready to lose my shit. I've been trying to sever the connection between the drones and the Gla'hua ship but have no way of testing anything without provoking them to blast us to pieces. None of this makes any gnarfing sense. What's going on aboard that ship? Why are they making us sit here? Why is Lieutenant Avala's breathing so damn loud?_

On the bridge, Avala anxiously drums her fingers on her console. Beside her, Pon is staring at a screen, muttering angrily.

"It doesn't make sense. That alien was talking about a 'sickness' on their ship."

Avala's antennae turn towards Pon. "You said you were reading a power failure on the ship. Do you think that's what s/he meant?"

"It can't be – the alien materialized here almost simultaneously with the power failure! How could s/he even know about it, let alone try to do something about it?"

"I don't know," Avala says testily. "Maybe the power failure is the symptom of some other process which was already happening."

"And besides that," Pon continues, "Sparks hadn't even been gone for an hour. Do you really think that he could have been caught up in a web of alien intrigue that quickly? Although that is what he does, I suppose."

Avala wheels to glare at Pon. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Pon meets her gaze. "Interstellar diplomacy. It's his specialty. It's why he's here."

"Right." She looks back down at his console.

"Time travel," Pon declares.

She looks at Pon again. "Who are you talking to? Are you trying to get me to debate you on this?"

"Think about it. The other _Icarus_ – possible time paradox. Future Captain Rashid keeps invoking the Temporal Prime Directive. Why? This Gla'hua tells a story about knowing Commander Sparks; highly unlikely that it could have happened. What if there is something on that ship that puts things out of phase with real time?"

"A more likely explanation is that Mab'aa is lying. And what about Sorensen? She doesn't seem to have been temporally displaced."

"She was held by the Outsiders," Pon replies. Then she slams her hand on the console. "No. The Gla'hua don't have time travel – it's the Outsiders. Think about it. Rylek and Sorensen said Captain Rashid convinced the Outsiders to let them go. But neither Rashid could have done it at the time, before they re-materialized on the ship. Suggesting that they were actually being held at some other point in the past or future, and one of the Rashids spoke to them then."

"But what about the other _Icarus_? Did the Outsiders transport it through time as well? There's no sign that they have the technology for that."

"Maybe so. But clearly they travelled through time somehow. Also: Sorensen and Mab'aa appeared at the same moment that the power failed on the Gla'hua ship. If the Outsiders are outside of our timeline, they'd need some entry point into our time. Meaning that anything they did would happen simultaneously. Suggesting…" She taps her comm badge. "Pon to all hands. Report to the bridge immediately."

Avala says, "Pon, your theory isn't… well, it isn't even a theory. It's just an idea."

"It makes as much sense as anything we've seen, doesn't it?" Pon is now furiously working on her console.

Soon the turbolift opens and Rashid and Sorensen enter. "Report," says Rashid.

"Captain, I think the Outsiders are actually outside of our timeline. Lieutenant Sorensen, take a look at these sensor logs. They're from the time you materialized on the bridge. Do any of these readings suggest to you any kind of temporal anomaly?"

Sorensen stares at the readings for a moment. "No, I don't think… wait a minute. There." She calls up a star chart on her screen and points to a location. "Those astrometric readings suggest a rift in the time-space continuum. It wasn't open for very long."

"Could they send a signal through it? A transporter signal?"

"Theoretically, yes, although I've never heard of that kind of technology before."

The turbolift door slides open again and Rylek and Mab'aa emerge. Sorensen makes eye contact with Rylek for an awkward moment, then looks back at her readouts.

"Mab'aa," asks Pon, "How long were you with Isaiah? Hours? Days?"

S/he replies, "My kind do not measure time."

"What? That's ridiculous. What kind of a civilization doesn't measure time?"

"Pon," says Rashid, "Where are you going with this?"

"Captain, I think that the Outsiders were holding Susan and Mab'aa outside of our timeline. What Mab'aa described with Commander Sparks, being captured by the Gla'hua and all that – it could very well be happening right now, and Mab'aa hasn't been captured by the Outsiders yet. And somehow they might, at some point in the future, send you and _Icarus_ back in time."

Rylek says, "Captain, that might explain how you secured Lieutenant Sorensen's release, despite neither you nor your double having any knowledge of doing such a thing."

"It could be," Rashid nods. "But why? Why do any of this?"

"The ways of the Outsiders are inscrutable," says Mab'aa.

Pon growls, "Well, I say we figure out how to make them more scrutable."

Avala's console beeps. "Incoming message from the Gla'hua ship."

"Put it through," says Rashid.

"Federation ship _Icarus_ ," comes a synthesized voice. "This is Xu'ab, hand-guider of the Gla'hua. Our Eyes have seen that the purposeless one Mab'aa is aboard your ship. Turn him over to us immediately or be destroyed."

Rashid's jaw tightens. "Xu'ab, this is Captain Rashid. I want to talk to Commander Sparks."

"Do not make demands of us. Give us Mab'aa or die."

Mab'aa steps forward to stand next to Rashid. "Xu'ab is lying. S/he will destroy your ship as soon as I am off it. He believes that destroying you will restore the Equilibrium."

Rashid says into the comm, "What assurances do we have that we will be unharmed if Mab'aa returns to your ship?"

"Do not test the patience of the Gla'hua. Give us Mab'aa now."

To Pon, Rashid asks, "Can you disrupt the connection with those drones?"

"I can't say. Maybe. I have an idea but no way of knowing whether it will work."

Rashid looks at her crew, who stare back at her, awaiting her order.

She sits in the captain's chair. "Well, let's hope that other _Icarus_ is a good sign for our future survival. Pon, try to disconnect the drones. Avala, shields to maximum. Rylek, take us towards the Gla'hua mothership, maximum impulse." She points her finger at the viewscreen. "Engage."

* * *

 _Rashid is in an escape pod, her arms wrapped around her legs for warmth._

" _Computer?" she says._

 _There is nothing but static._

" _No. No, you can't leave me now. Talk to me."_

 _More static._

" _Come on. Work! Work, you piece of shit!"_

 _There is no response._

 _Rashid blinks back tears. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you a piece of shit. Please work. Please… I can't be alone."_

 _No sound. Rashid puts her head on her knees in the cramped confines of the escape pod._

" _They'll find me."_

TO BE CONCLUDED…


	4. And The Stars Looked Down, Part 4

_Icarus_ weaves between the enemy drones, its shields absorbing their disruptor fire. The drones blink around the ship, struggling to keep up as Icarus speeds toward the Gla'hua mothership.

On the bridge, Avala reports, "Shields are holding for now. I can't say for how long."

"Rylek," orders Captain Rashid, "bring us as close to the mothership as you can. Within the power coil if you're able – if we're right on top of them, they might think twice about shooting at us. Pon, can you disable those drones?"

"I got a few of them. But it looks like each drone uses a different frequency. Crafty. Crafty fishies."

Avala says, "Sir, they're blinking in front of us. It looks like they want to block our path to the mothership."

"Transphasic torpedo spread, Ms. Avala."

"Aye, sir."

Four torpedoes launch from the fore of the ship towards the drones and the mothership. One drone fires at them with its disruptors, which refracts around the torpedoes' transphasic field. Another drone then blinks in front of one of the torpedoes and is struck by it. The torpedo explodes and the drone whirls end over end, then rights itself and flies into a second torpedo. Both are destroyed in the resulting explosion. Two other drones collide with the remaining torpedoes. One of the drones is destroyed, while the other orients itself to fire on _Icarus_ , plasma leaking from its aft section.

"Enemy drone off our port bow, heading straight for us!" Avala shouts.

"Evasive manoeuvres!"

 _Icarus_ lurches to one side as the drone passes through its shields. One of the three talon-like wings of the drone scrapes the upper saucer section of the ship, tearing off a piece of the outer layer of the hull.

"Shields are down, Captain," Avala reports through gritted teeth.

The bridge rocks as enemy fire scours the ship. Rashid says, "Get us to that mothership, Rylek!"

"Ten seconds, Captain," Rylek replies with an air of forced calm.

 _Icarus_ speeds around the drones to the large outer coil of the Gla'hua ship, looping between the coil and the inner sphere of the ship. Drones blink around the ship but stop firing.

"Looks like they don't want to take a chance on damaging the mothership," observes Pon.

"Preservation of the Gla'hua will be their aim," offers Mab'aa from the back of the bridge. "But take care, Captain Rashid, for the Gla'hua is of supreme value to me as well."

"Don't worry, it's a bluff. I have no intention of harming your people. Rylek, keep us close to that coil," Rashid orders. "Avala, open a channel to the Gla'hua."

"Channel open."

"Gla'hua ship, this is Captain Rashid. Cease your attack immediately or we'll open fire on your power coil."

There is a momentary pause, and the crew stares intently at the viewscreen.

"Captain, I'm reading a massive power surge in the coil," Sorensen reports.

"Get us out of range towards the mothership's inner hull!"

 _Icarus_ plunges towards the inner sphere as the coil fires a burst of bright scarlet energy at them, narrowly missing the ship before being reabsorbed into another section of the coil. The drones follow close behind, still not firing.

Suddenly four Gla'hua armed with energy pikes materialize on the bridge. Rashid shouts, "Computer! Intruder containment mode!"

Grey walls materialize around the crew's seats, separated by narrow corridors running in all directions. Their seats and consoles seem to spread apart as the corridors holographically appear to elongate, then turn at random ninety-degree angles like a Rubik's cube. The walls surrounding Rashid become screens showing the view in front of the ship, the crew seated at their consoles, and the baffled Gla'hua intruders lost in the corridors.

"Welcome to the death labyrinth, fishies," Pon cackles. Avala, seated directly next to her, draws her phaser. Rashid does the same, setting it on the arm of the captain's chair and gripping its hilt tightly. Behind her chair, Mab'aa's eye stalks search hir surroundings, disoriented.

The Gla'hua intruders gesture to each other and venture off in various directions, gradually adapting to the changing gravity to walk along the walls up, down, and sideways through the corridors.

"Steady as she goes, Mr. Rylek," says Rashid.

Sorensen, seated beside Rylek, says, "The drones are holding position around us."

"Pon, I need shields!"

"Working on it, Captain," the Tellarite replies.

A Gla'hua emerges from a corridor behind Pon, pike drawn. Reflexively, Avala fires and drops hir. Another leaps forward over hir stunned comrade, and Avala grabs hir pike and ducks, using the alien's momentum to hurl hir overtop of her to the floor. The pike and Avala's phaser clatter underneath her console. The Gla'hua rolls to hir feet and faces Avala, towering half a meter over the Andorian. With a hiss, s/he lunges forward, grasping with hir four hands as Avala narrowly dodges to the side. She dives for her phaser, but the Gla'hua swings hir tail and knocks Avala backwards, and she crashes into her console and topples over. S/he grabs hir pike and holds it over Avala. Before s/he can bring it down, Pon seizes hir head and slams it hard into a wall. The intruder crumples to the floor.

"Thanks," Avala says, climbing back to her feet and wiping a stream of dark blue blood from her mouth.

"Thanks yourself," Pon grunts, returning to her seat. She taps her console and says, "Captain, I'm diverting power from engines to shields. Bringing them online now."

"Great work." Rashid glances at her screen. "Rylek, Sorensen, you've got incoming!"

A Gla'hua steps out of the corridor behind them and fires a burst of energy from hir pike. Sorensen narrowly dives aside in time and the blast hits her console, causing it to vanish. Rylek leaps to his feet and seizes the Gla'hua's neck. S/he collapses.

"Hah!" exclaims Rylek. Then he glances at Sorensen and says, "I mean, I am gratified that I have successfully performed a nerve pinch."

She smiles as he returns to the helm. Rashid says, "One left. Mab'aa, get down."

Mab'aa lays low, and Rashid says, "Computer, bridge setting."

The corridors vanish, revealing a confused Gla'hua in the center of the bridge. Rashid shoots hir and s/he drops.

"Nice work, everyone," Rashid says. "Keep us close to the central sphere, Rylek."

"Drones still holding," says Sorensen.

"Gaaaaaaa," croaks one of the Gla'hua. Sorensen pulls out a tricorder and scans hir. "Captain, these aliens are not stunned – I'm reading full synaptic activity from all of them. If I had to guess, I'd say their motor functions are temporarily disabled. And that one," she says, pointing to a Gla'hua near Pon, "has a broken neck."

"It was self-defence," mutters Pon.

"Will they survive?" Rashid asks.

"I'm not sure," Sorensen replies. "I suggest we use the transporters to hold them in the pattern buffers until Dr. Alomar can take a look at them."

"Do it," Rashid orders. Sorensen dematerializes the aliens.

Mab'aa leans in to Rashid. "Your mercy surprises me. I had thought my kin dead."

"That's not the Federation way," Rashid tells hir. Glancing at the viewscreen, she asks, "We appear to be at a standoff. Tell me – what do you think they'll do next?"

"The hand-guiders are considering their options. They have zeal for battle, but little experience. But they will not be idle for long."

"Noted." To the crew, "We hold here for now. Our top priority is to find Commander Sparks and get out of here." She looks at the drones hovering around _Icarus_. "And let's try to be quick about it."

* * *

 _Chief medical officer's log, supplemental. Repairs to the alternate_ Icarus' _main systems have been completed, and we are ready to set off. However, it appears that the crew have engaged the Gla'hua in battle. To my frustration, the captain – my patient – has been rather tight-lipped about our planned course of action._

Alomar finds Rashid in Science Lab 2. She has connected a tricorder to a workstation and is staring at a holographic image of _Icarus_ being pursued by drones towards the Gla'hua mothership, with data showing the lines of connection between the mothership and drones.

"Is that their current position?" Alomar asks.

"No," Rashid replies. "I believe this was about fifteen minutes ago." She turns to him. "You think we should go help them."

He nods. "Two ships are better than one. And we could be there very quickly."

She peers at the hologram. "I completely understand. But believe me, Tomas, there's only one way to help them. Things can only happen the way they happen."

"I have noticed that, since we rescued you, you've been fond of that particular tautology."

"Have I? Picked it up from a friend."

The simulated lines suddenly blink green one by one. Rashid smiles. "Excellent. Tomas, let's go to the bridge. Do you mind grabbing that tricorder?"

He takes the tricorder and is overwhelmed by a powerful stench. " _Dios mio._ Where has this tricorder been?"

"The most secure place on the ship," Rashid says, walking ahead of him. "Pon's mud storage unit."

They ride the turbolift to the bridge. Alomar says, "You seem very certain of what is to come."

"I am," she answers. "At least, up to a certain point. Beyond that…" She trails off.

He nods. "I think I am beginning to understand all of this."

The door opens. Rashid takes the tricorder and connects it to the helm. "Computer, download program Rylek Zeta-3."

"I don't know about this program," the computer says. "The timestamp is impossible, and the program itself is crazy."

"Just do it."

Alomar says, "I can't understand why you use that Tellarite behavioural subroutine."

"Oh, the computer? She's fine. We just like to joke around with each other." Rashid enters some commands into the helm.

"You do realize this is the ship's computer you are talking about."

She does not look up. "If it wasn't for her, I would have lost my mind more than I already have." She taps the console and looks up. "There. Now we wait."

He sits next to her at ops. "We will be entering undiscovered country for you soon, won't we?"

"Yes. Like I said, I have some idea of what's coming, but only up to a certain point."

"Are you afraid for our lives?"

She looks into his eyes. "To some extent. But really… I'm worried that none of it means anything. Our mission, our lives, the Federation itself. What are we really doing here?"

"We're explorers, on a very important mission to learn about the final frontier of the galaxy."

"I used to believe that, Tomas. I did. But now… now I feel like we're just playing out this pre-ordained script."

"It is common for temporally displaced persons to experience difficulty coping with their experiences. The human mind did not evolve to deal with time travel and its rather… disturbing implications." He leans forward. "But you felt that you had a very specific script to play out, did you not?"

"Yes. That woman I met… who I found so long ago in that escape pod, who I cajoled and screamed at to give me some hint of what was to come… after you found me, I had to become her. I had to. Because everything we experienced out here – they're still just barely hanging in, and there's so little margin for error. If I'd made even a tiny change from what I'd seen that other woman do, we could have lost everything."

"It's funny," Alomar says. "We met because of theatre. You were always a great actress."

"Well now that I'm on the other side, and I've seen my past self saying the things I said – she was acting just as much as I was. Same with the battle with the Gla'hua. She's acting. She tries to be a captain, but she's – I was really, really scared, but terrified that if I let the crew know it, everything will fall apart."

"Perhaps that's what it means to be a good captain. Perhaps duty is mostly theatre."

Rashid looks down. "Maybe. But if you strip away the theatre, the façade of being a captain, a leader, a respectable person, what's left? Just this organism, this chemical soup of neurons and contradictory impulses. We think our lives have a narrative, a purpose, but do they? Or are we just a set of chemical processes playing themselves out?"

"Take it from your doctor," he smiles. "I am deeply and intimately familiar with the chemical soup. That is what we are in a very real sense, but we are also human beings. Our choices and our relationships are real, and they matter."

She smiles back, weakly.

* * *

After a journey through the starlit corridors of the Gla'hua ship, Sparks follows Mab'aa and his small entourage of maintainers to an immense, spherical chamber. They emerge from a tall porthole into a wide catwalk which divides the sphere into an upper and lower hemisphere. The catwalk surrounds an inner sphere of water which is suspended in the center of the chamber, approximately a hundred meters in diameter. In the center of the water are a cluster of yellow, weakly glowing lights. A group of two dozen Gla'hua stand ahead of them, pikes in hand. Sparks recognizes the one at the front as the Decider.

"Decider," Mab'aa addresses hir, "Please allow me to access the Mind. I must read its patterns."

"No, Mab'aa. Your journey ends here. You and these Federation have disrupted the Equilibrium, and it must be restored."

Mab'aa steps forward. "You will not destroy me. The Outsiders have foreseen a purpose for me. I must read the Mind's patterns."

"No," repeats the Decider. "The hand-guiders and I have consulted with the memory-keepers. Disruption of the Equilibrium brings the wrath of the Outsiders. To placate them, we must destroy the intruders and the lie-tellers, and all those who bring discord. So has it always been, and so will it always be."

"Hang on," Sparks interjects. "What about my ship? _Icarus_ is no threat to you or to the Equilibrium."

The Decider looks at him. "The Hand now strikes at _Icarus_. None can long resist its fury."

"Listen. You don't have to destroy us; there's a better way."

"It has been decided."

The Gla'hua raise their pikes. Mab'aa spreads hir arms wide. "You do not understand. All is transpiring as the Outsiders have foreseen it. I must access the Mind. Only then can the sickness be cured."

The Decider steps forward and cocks hir head. "Will you restore the Equilibrium?"

"As I have said," Mab'aa says, "there is no Equilibrium. All things die, even the Gla'hua. But this sickness is not the end of things."

"No, I cannot allow this." The Decider and the Gla'hua point their pikes forward.

"Wait wait wait," Sparks shouts, holding his hands in front of him. "This sickness. You said you consulted your memory-keepers. Has there ever been a sickness like this before?"

The Decider regards him warily. "There has not. But neither have there been intruders like you, Federation."

"Alright. I understand that you think we caused this, but I swear to you that we didn't. There's something else going on here, and we can get to the bottom of it. Together." He gestures to Mab'aa. "Mab'aa knows how to read the patterns, right?"

"That was Mab'aa's function, yes."

"Well, Mab'aa said that's what the Outsiders want. And maybe by restoring Mab'aa's function, you take a step towards restoring the Equilibrium."

"Mab'aa does not believe in the Equilibrium."

Sparks nods. "No, but you do. And what if Mab'aa can tell you something about the Mind that you didn't know before? You're the Decider – don't you want to have as much information as you can have before making a decision?"

The Decider turns to Mab'aa. "Very well. Fetch a node, and bring it to the Dry to read its patterns."

Mab'aa bows, and hir followers nod amongst each other in relief. Mab'aa walks towards the sphere of water and leaps into it, swimming towards the center. After a moment, s/he returns, holding one of the yellow lights. It is a globe approximately sixty centimeters across, and its yellow light dies out when Mab'aa rests it on the catwalk in front of the Decider.

"That globe," Sparks says softly to one of the other maintainers near him. "What is it?"

"It is a node of the Gla'hua's Mind."

Mab'aa places all four of hir hands on the globe, and its top hemisphere slides open. The globe projects a complex array of holographic symbols above it.

"You see," says Mab'aa. "The pattern is scrambled. It is nonsensical. This sickness affects all of the nodes."

"What has done this?" the Decider asks.

"It is the Outsiders. By observing us, they create us."

Just then, Mab'aa vanishes. The Decider looks around. "Mab'aa has invoked the Outsiders' anger! Destroy the lie-tellers!"

"No no no no! I've seen that node before!" Sparks says quickly. "We have one!"

"That is not possible," one of the maintainers says. "All the nodes abide with the Mind."

"It is true," the Decider says. "I have beheld the Mind myself."

"Well, somehow we have one."

"Is it on _Icarus_?"

"Not exactly. But we know where to find it. If you let my companions here and on _Icarus_ live, I'll tell you where it is."

The Decider considers this for a moment. Then, "I am the Decider, and it is my function to make and execute decisions. This decision has been made." To the pike-wielding Gla'hua, "Kill these lie-tellers, but take the alien to Xu'ab. If there is any truth to his tale of an extra node, the Hand will coax it from him."

The Gla'hua open fire on Mab'aa's followers, gunning them down as they scatter and try to flee. One of the Gla'hua seizes Sparks, and he struggles against the alien's grip as they follow the Decider from the chamber.

* * *

"Susan, can you locate Isaiah?" Rashid asks, staring anxiously through the viewscreen at the looming Gla'hua mothership and drones zipping around them.

"Negative, Captain," Sorensen replies. "We can't scan through the hull."

"Captain," Avala offers, "I have an idea. I think we should be able to cut through the hull using the phasers and shoot a probe through, which we can use as a relay to lock on to his signal and beam him out. If we divert power to the phasers, I think we can cut through within thirty seconds."

"We'd be dead in half that time," Pon says. "Those drones may not be shooting at us now, but if we open fire on their mothership, you can bet your blue ass that'll change."

"Pon, focus on the task at hand," Rashid tells her. "What's the status on disabling the drones?"

Pon slams her fist on her console. "There's just not time! These frequencies are too complex. If I had a few hours to run a full analysis on the computer… You know, this would be a whole lot easier if we'd installed that transpectral imaging array like I suggested."

"Get started; it's our best chance right now," Rashid orders. She steps forward. "Any chance we can outrun them, Rylek?"

"It is doubtful, Captain. Even if we jump to warp, the drones would be able to destabilize our superspace field within seconds."

She paces back and forth. "What about the stealth system? That seemed to work before."

"The stealth system is only really effective if no one knows what to look for," Pon tells her. "I think they'd be able to configure their sensors to find us without too much difficulty. Unless…" She trails off.

"What is it?"

"The other ship, Captain. If we could jump to warp and immediately turn on our stealth system, while the other ship simultaneously appeared within their sensor range and dropped stealth mode, it would appear that we'd warped to their position, and the drones would probably go after them and we could make a break for it."

Rashid nods. "Good. So we need to get a message to them to coordinate this."

"Therein lies the problem," Pon says. "How do we get a message to them without giving away their existence?"

Sorensen suggests, "We could piggyback it on a subspace carrier wave. It would look like a background navigational signal."

"That would only work if they knew exactly what to look for," Avala replies. "They'd have to configure the sensors to detect it."

"But," Rashid points at her, "what if you configure the sensors now? If they are us in the future, won't they still be configured that way?" She pauses. "Or better yet… why not just leave a note?"

"A note, Captain?" Avala asks.

"Rylek," she says, "I want you to do a navigational program for the autopilot. Take the other _Icarus'_ last known position, and plot a course that will take them out of warp near the edge of the Gla'hua's sensor range. Then download it into a tricorder. We'll leave the tricorder on the ship. Pon, what's the most secure place we can put it?"

"That would be my mud storage unit, Captain," Pon grins. "Can't let that rare vintage be exposed to the normal pressures of life aboard a starship. It has its own built-in climate control and shielding. I designed it myself."

Rashid makes a face. "Alright…. Well, as long as it's secure there. Set the program to –"

"And," Pon interrupts, "We can download our sensor telemetry for the drones on there as well. Alomar and the other Rashid have lots of time over there; they can run an analysis so that they can disable all the drones as soon as they drop out of warp!"

"Make it so," Rashid tells her.

Rylek asks, "It will be necessary to set the program so that the other _Icarus_ arrives at the precise time index that we activate our stealth system. When should I program the other _Icarus_ to arrive?"

"Well…" Rashid begins. "I guess sooner is better."

"Captain, aren't we putting a lot of faith in a temporal paradox here?" Sorensen asks. "What if the other _Icarus_ doesn't arrive? We'll be an easy target for the Gla'hua."

Rashid sits. "I share your concern. But we don't have a lot of options right now. And so far, all evidence suggests that they are who they say they are." She rotates the chair. "Mab'aa, do you have any insight into this?"

"Things can only happen the way they happen," Mab'aa replies.

Rashid stares at hir for a moment. "That's… a bit cryptic."

"What I mean is that I have seen you in the realm of the Outsiders. This suggests to me that you have the same power as them."

"And what power is that?"

"Power over time." Mab'aa stares at her intently. "My people fear time. Time's linear march is anathema to the Equilibrium, and thus to us. But the Outsiders understand time, and thus have mastery over it. They can observe past and future, and by observing it, they create it. Through your understanding of time, you have that power as well."

"Whole lot of nonsense, if you ask me," Pon growls.

"Maybe not," Rashid counters. "Think about it scientifically. Ever since we encountered that other ship, we've been developing theories as to how it got here. Well, time travel is our best theory so far. You said yourself that it's likely that the Outsiders have time travel abilities. Since we know time travel is in play here, it stands to reason that that's how the other _Icarus_ got here. Have we seen anything yet to disprove it?"

Pon and Sorensen shake their heads.

"Then we're not putting faith in a time paradox; we're trusting the evidence. And we're trusting ourselves to interpret it accurately. We're scientists. That's what we have to do. It's our best chance of getting out of here."

Sorensen nods. "Alright."

Rashid turns to Rylek. "Set the time index for thirty seconds from my mark. Then download the programs, and prepare to go to warp and engage the stealth system. Don't take us far; in fact, keep us within five hundred klicks of the Gla'hua mothership. I don't want to create any more of a warp trail than we need to."

"Course laid in, Captain," Rylek says.

"Mark."

They sit in a tense silence for a moment. Rashid says to Pon, "And don't forget to put that tricorder in your storage unit after this is done."

"Don't worry," Pon replies, her eyes wide.

Rylek announces, "Engaging warp engines…. Now."

The viewscreen flashes briefly, then returns to the sight of the Gla'hua mothership. Avala says, "Stealth system engaged."

"It worked!" Sorensen grins. "The other _Icarus_ has arrived. The drones are heading for them… getting closer… they've disabled the drones!"

"Shall I plot a course away from here, Captain?" Rylek asks.

"No. Keep us close to the mothership. Divert power to phasers and ready a probe. It's time to get Isaiah out of there."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Pon counters. "We should make a run for it; this may be our only chance to get out of here. I've detected a supermassive black hole which we could reach within two minutes at maximum warp. Our engines can withstand the pressures a lot better than they can. They'd be idiots to follow us."

Rashid looks at her. "I appreciate your suggestion, Commander, but we're not leaving without Sparks. Avala, ready phasers."

"Captain," Pon protests, "they can still use that energy coil, and who knows what else. We need to cut our losses and get out of here, or we'll lose the ship."

"My order is final. Fire on my mark…"

Pon stands up. "Let me remind you that with Commander Sparks gone, I'm acting first officer. Under Starfleet regulations, if the captain has become emotionally compromised, I have the authority to relieve her of duty –"

"Stand down, Pon." Rashid stands and faces her. "You're crossing the line."

"No. You're emotionally compromised. You can't handle the thought of losing one of your crew on your first mission." She steps close to Rashid. "If you can't make the hard decisions, you are unfit to command this ship."

"Stand. Down."

The two women stand eye to eye as the crew watches in uncomfortable silence. Rashid says, very softly, "Look around you, Pon. Look at the crew. Who do you think they're going to side with? Which of us has wasted no opportunity to alienate everyone on this ship?"

The Tellarite's dark eyes glance at Sorensen, Avala, Rylek. Avala reaches for her phaser.

"There's a reason you're not in command of this ship, Pon," Rashid continues in a low voice. "You may have built this ship. You may be indispensable to this mission. You may be one of the best scientific minds in the Federation. But there's more to being a Starfleet captain than all of that. You need to inspire loyalty. The crew needs to know that when things get tough, you'll fight for them with everything you've got. And if there's a chance that we can rescue Commander Sparks, we've got to take it. I can tell you that everyone here agrees with me. So, I'll say it one more time: stand down, or I'll have you confined to quarters."

"You can't. You need me."

"Try me."

They stare at each other for another moment. Then Pon looks down. "Very well, Captain." She mutters something about humans in Tellarite and skulks to her seat.

"Avala, phasers. Fire."

The ship's phasers begin to bore a hole into the hull of the inner sphere of the Gla'hua ship. The outer coil begins to crackle, and the ship rotates away.

"Stay with them, Rylek," Rashid says.

"Aye, sir…"

"Energy buildup in the coil, Captain," Sorensen reports.

"Adjust shield harmonics to compensate."

A bolt of red energy shoots from the coil at the shields. The ship rocks under the barrage.

"Shields at 70%... 55…" Avala says.

"Steady…"

"Shields down to 20%," Avala continues. "We're almost there… wait! Shields are back up to 40%."

"I'm using the deflector array to repolarize the shields," Pon growls. "It won't last long, so work fast."

"I'm through!" Avala shouts.

"Susan, fire the probe!" Rashid orders.

"Probe away." She peers at her readouts. "Got it. I've locked on to his comm signal."

"Drop shields and energize on my mark. Then get us out of here towards that black hole, maximum warp."

"Aye, Captain," Rylek replies.

"Engage."

The lights flicker and sparks fall from the ceiling when the shields drop. Then, with a hum, the ship slingshots around the mothership and enters warp.

"Did you get him?" Rashid asks Sorensen.

"That's a negative. I got his comm badge and what's left of his environmental suit," Sorensen answers, swallowing hard. "Sorry."

Avala looks down. Rashid says, "You tried."

Avala's console beeps. "Captain, they're coming after us. The mothership is."

"On screen."

The viewscreen shows the mothership close behind them. Sorensen reports, "Looks like they're using some kind of slipstream drive."

"Take us toward that black hole and get us as close to it as we can safely."

A blast of energy rocks the ship. "Arriving at the singularity, Captain," Rylek announces. "Dropping out of warp."

A thin, reddish corona of light surrounds the pitch-black sphere which fills their viewscreen, absorbing the light of the dense stars all around them. _Icarus_ speeds toward the object, with the Gla'hua mothership close behind, firing towards them. The energy dissipates as it is drawn toward the black hole.

"Take us to the edge of the event horizon," Rashid orders.

"Taking us in," Rylek repeats. The bridge shudders under the gravimetric stresses; a bulkhead breaks loose from the ceiling and crashes to the floor near Rashid's chair.

"Sir," says Sorensen, "We're being bombarded with Epsilon radiation. The shields aren't keeping all of it out."

"It'll keep the Outsiders away," Rashid observes wryly. "What about the mothership?"

"They're still coming," Avala replies.

"Hail them."

"Channel open."

"Gla'hua ship: this is Captain Rashid _._ Cease your pursuit immediately. Your ship can't withstand the gravimetric forces here."

"This is the Decider. You cannot escape the Hand of the Gla'hua. The Equilibrium must be restored."

"You are a fool!" Mab'aa shouts. "You will bring about the end of the Gla'hua."

"The decision is made."

"They've closed the channel," Avala says. "They're still coming… wait. They're slowing."

"Get us away from them," Rashid orders.

 _Icarus_ continues forward past the black hole as the mothership gradually slows and begins drifting deeper toward the event horizon.

Sorensen reports, "It looks like they're being pulled into the singularity."

"It must not happen this way!" Mab'aa says, fidgeting anxiously. "We must do something."

"We've got another problem, Captain," Pon announces. "I cross-referenced the time index on the other _Icarus_ computer with the rate of decay in their dilithium reserves. By my calculation, the cyberattack that shut down their computer – that's going to happen to us within twenty-five minutes."

"Why are you only telling me this now?" Rashid demands.

"I thought we'd be dead by now," Pon snaps back.

"Is there any way we can help the Gla'hua escape from the gravitational well?"

"If I went over there, I might be able to reconfigure their slipstream drive to help them break free. I doubt they'd welcome our assistance, though."

"Mab'aa, what do you think?"

S/he is still staring awestruck at the mothership drifting slowly into oblivion. "The Decider has taken a path far more dangerous than I ever thought possible. But still, hir purpose is to maintain the Equilibrium. S/he may listen to reason, now that the error of hir ways is manifest."

"Hail them."

"Channel open," says Avala.

"Gla'hua ship. You are in grave danger. We can help you. Let us send our engineer to your ship to help reconfigure your engines."

"No…" comes the reply. "All is lost."

Mab'aa steps forward. "All is not lost, Decider. The Outsiders have shown me the end of the Gla'hua, but it is not this way. You may still save the Gla'hua. You may still restore your Equilibrium. Let these people help – it is your only chance."

After a long pause, the Decider asks, "Why would you do this, after all we have done?"

"It's the Federation way," Rashid answers. "We value all sentient life."

"Very well. Send your engineer."

Pon stands, and Rashid turns to Mab'aa. "Go with her."

The alien bows hir head. "You are truly an enlightened people."

"What kind of people would we be if we let a civilization die?" To Sorensen, "Is the probe still in place?"

"Yes."

"Good. Beam them over. And configure the sensors to detect any temporal rifts. That will tell us when the Outsiders' cyberattack is coming."

Pon walks towards the turbolift, then turns. "You're sending another member of your crew onto that deathtrap."

"You're not arguing."

"No. I'm not." She looks into Rashid's eyes. "Don't forget about the cyberattack."

"Let me worry about that. Go help those people. And don't forget to put that tricorder in with your mud." She stares at the Tellarite. "Good luck, Commander."

She nods. "Captain."

* * *

"What are we going to see when we arrive?" Alomar asks.

Rashid stares at the viewscreen as the thick stars shoot past. "The Gla'hua mothership is being pulled into the event horizon. Pon is over there trying to help them reconfigure their engines to escape, but there's not much time. And Captain Rashid knows that a cyberattack is about to cripple _Icarus_ and is trying to figure out a way to stop it."

"She won't, will she?"

Rashid shakes her head. "She shouldn't be trying to prevent it. She knows what she needs to do."

They drop out of warp. _Icarus_ , scarred by disruptor fire and the stresses of the black hole, is holding position next to the Gla'hua ship, which is receding slowly into the black hole.

"Hail the other _Icarus,_ " Rashid tells Alomar.

"Channel open."

Rashid sees her own face on the viewscreen. "Hello, Captain Rashid."

"Hello, Captain Rashid."

"You're trying to prevent the cyberattack. But you know that you can't."

"It'll cripple the ship. We can't help the Gla'hua if our main computer is offline."

"We can. You need to go help Susan."

Confused, the other Rashid looks at Sorensen. "She's right here."

"Only because you will help her."

On the screen, Rylek turns to his captain. "She may be correct, Captain. In Lieutenant Sorensen's memories, you persuaded the Outsiders to release her."

"But the Outsiders exist outside our timeline. How can I get to them?" Her eyes widen. "I have to take _Icarus_ through the temporal rift once it opens. That's how you got thrown back in time."

Rashid nods. "The rift will be opening soon. You need to plot your course before the cyberattack hits."

The other Rashid looks at her crew. "Once the course is set, you have to stay and help the Gla'hua. Be ready to transport to the other ship on my mark." She turns to the viewscreen. "Lock on to their signals. We also have four injured Gla'hua in the transporter buffer; I'll transfer them to your ship as well." She looks into the eyes of her future self. "Looks like I'll have some time to myself, won't I?"

Rashid nods. "I wish there was another way."

"Well, it's like Mab'aa said: things can only happen the way they happen."

Alomar turns to Rashid. "I'm detecting a temporal anomaly."

Rashid looks at her counterpart. "Are you getting this?"

"Yes," she answers, standing over Sorensen and watching her readouts. "Position confirmed."

"Course laid in, Captain," Rylek says.

The Rashid on the damaged ship says, "Alright, all of you: get to the other ship. I'll see you all very soon."

Rylek stands and gives the Vulcan salute. Avala hugs her and says, "Good luck."

"Thanks. And say hi to Isaiah, when you find him."

Sorensen hugs Rashid as well. "Thank you. Thank you for doing this."

"It's nothing, Susan. Just promise me you'll find me."

"I will. I already have." She steps back and faces the viewscreen. "We're ready. Three to beam up."

Alomar activates the transporter control. "Got them, Captain. And the Gla'hua are in the pattern buffer."

Rashid watches as her double pilots _Icarus_ towards the subspace rift. The lights flicker. "Their main computer is failing," Alomar reports.

Then the other _Icarus_ travels through the rift, and both disappear.

The door slides open and the crew enter. Rashid stands and cedes helm control to Rylek, and smiles. "Great to see you all again."

Avala looks around. "This _Icarus_ is in such good shape now!" Her console beeps as she sits. "I'm getting a transmission from the Gla'hua ship, audio only."

"Put it through," Rashid says as she tugs her uniform top down and sits in the captain's chair.

"Is this _Icarus_?" the Decider asks. "The Gla'hua's eyes are deceiving… we saw two of you…"

"It's a long story," Rashid says. "What's your status?"

Mab'aa's voice says, "Captain Rashid, we have been told by Lieutenant Pon that we need to restore full power before we break free. She says we need to bring the Mind – what you would call the main computer – back online. And the Decider told me that you have a node of the Mind, which may be able to restore our systems."

"Mid-sized, bluish-grey sphere?" Rashid asks.

"That is it. I cannot imagine how it has come into your care, but if you have it, we must connect it with the Mind so it can restore the patterns. Our transporters are down, so you must bring it over yourself."

"We'll do that right away," she tells him.

The Decider says, "We are forever in your debt. Also, I must tell you that your Commander Sparks is alive. But he is in the custody of Xu'ab and the hand-guiders, and I fear they may kill him soon. They no longer obey my command; they consider me a lie-teller."

"Still, that's good news that he's alive. Stand by for transport," Rashid says. To Sorensen, "Can you get us aboard the ship?"

"I can get you aboard, to the area where I found Sparks' things," she says, "But beyond that, I don't have any kind of accuracy. Once you're there, you'll have to make your way on your own. The environmental suits have pattern enhancers, though – if you take those with you, I'll be able to lock on to your position."

"Good. I'm going to rendezvous with Mab'aa and get to their computer core. It's too dangerous to take that node with me – once I give you the signal, transport it to my position." She turns to Avala. "Vanda, Tomas, I want you to beam over and find Isaiah. Susan, you have the bridge."

The crew nods. Sorensen says, "Make sure you take environmental suits in case you need them. It looks like about 65% of the interior of that ship is water, and I'm detecting some hull breaches."

"Acknowledged." Rashid, Alomar, and Avala enter the turbolift and leave the bridge.

After a moment, Rashid's voice says, "Ready to transport."

Sorensen replies, "Energizing."

She sits back in her seat. Rylek asks, "Did they arrive?"

"They did. So now, we stand by, I suppose."

"Indeed." He studies his console. "It is a welcome reprieve."

"Yes." She drums her fingers. "I can't believe that temporal paradox thing worked. You leaving that program in the tricorder. I thought we were done."

"Temporal mechanics are complex. But they do possess their own internal logic."

"That's true." She looks at him. "Do you know what I was thinking?"

"What?"

"I thought, 'Well, we might die here, but at least I won't have to talk to Rylek about the mind meld.'"

Rylek's mouth almost twitches into a smile. "I had a similar thought process. Again, Lieutenant, I am deeply sorry about my lack of expertise…"

"No, no, Rylek, that's what you get when you start poking through my messed-up mind. I should have warned you."

"Well, you need not be embarrassed. After all, you have witnessed some rather… personal details of my life as well, and have seen how dysfunctional I am. Perhaps we both require counselling."

She smiles. "I think you're probably right."

They sit in silence. Then Sorensen says, "And you know, I think you were right about what you said, before the meld."

"About what?"

"You're a damn good pilot, even if you're not the most Vulcan-ish Vulcan. But I'm glad about that too. You don't use logic as an excuse for being an asshole."

He raises an eyebrow. "I try not to." He pauses. "I am glad you are here, Susan."

"I'm glad you're here too, Rylek."

* * *

Rashid, Alomar, and Avala, clad in environmental suits and carrying phaser rifles, materialize in a room on the Gla'hua mothership. One wall is an open porthole, outside of which they can see the starlight distorting into a dull reddish haze surrounding the looming black hole. There are containers around the room, many of them spilled, leaving strange implements strewn across the floor. The Decider, Mab'aa, and several other Gla'hua stand in front of them.

"Good. You have arrived," the Decider says. "You are in Dry Storage. Commander Pon is sending you the layout of the Gla'hua, with your respective paths indicated. The way to Xu'ab and Commander Sparks will take you through Dry areas, but getting to the Mind will be more difficult."

Pon's voice comes over their comm units. "Like s/he said, getting to the Mind is going to be tough. There are massive internal hull breaches throughout the ship. You'll have to go through some dry areas, some areas of vacuum – and to make matters worse, there's this huge internal ocean on this ship which has broken out of its holdings and is now flowing through large parts of the ship, carrying chunks of debris with it. And the gravity is all over the place."

"Understood," says Rashid. "Lucky thing I've spent the better part of the last few months in environmental suits."

"Huh. Yeah. I forgot about that. Well then, you'd better get moving before things get worse. I'll be monitoring your progress, and will let you know what to expect."

"Thanks, Pon. Stand by." She sets down her phaser rifle. To Avala and Alomar, "Go get Sparks, and be quick. Leave the suits for now – you'll move faster without them. But don't forget to take the pattern enhancer unit."

"And beware the hand-guiders," the Decider warns.

"Damn it, I'm a doctor, not a commando!" Alomar swears. He looks at Rashid. "Good luck."

"To both of us."

The Decider says, "I will return to my interface. Alert me when the Mind has been cured, and I will follow Commander Pon's instructions. Mab'aa will take you as far as s/he can."

"Good. Let's go."

Rashid follows Mab'aa through winding, rounded corridors illuminated by phosphorescent algae. From time to time, the ship shudders under the gravimetric stresses of the singularity. In the background is a dull roar which becomes louder the further they go.

"That's the water, isn't it?" Rashid asks.

"The current is too strong for me," Mab'aa replies.

"What will happen when this is over? Can you repair the damage?"

"The fixers will heal the Gla'hua, but it will take time. The Gla'hua has never been wounded this deeply in memory."

They reach a large door which seals the corridor. Pon's voice says, "There's vacuum beyond that airlock. Tell Mab'aa to program it to open, and then to get the hell out of there. You'll be sucked through as soon as it opens, so be ready."

"Understood." She turns to Mab'aa. "Set it to open, then hang on to something."

Mab'aa manipulates controls on the door, then steps back twenty meters and attaches hir mouth to the algae on the wall. The door opens, and Rashid is thrown forward through the door, down a long, pitch-black corridor. She uses the jets on her arms so that she is travelling feet-first, then activates the jets on her boots to slow herself. Eventually the air dissipates and she magnetizes her boots to the wall.

"Alright," continues Pon. "Now you're going to go forward about five hundred meters."

"Got it." Rashid de-magnetizes, and activates the jets to propel herself down the corridor.

"Careful," Pon warns. "You might –"

Rashid crashes up to the ceiling of the corridor with a loud thud that reverberates through her suit.

"– find that the gravity is a bit erratic in there."

"Thanks, Pon," Rashid says, picking herself up and walking along the ceiling. She scans ahead of herself. "I'm reading another airlock ahead of me."

"Don't go through there. Your best bet is actually to cut through the floor and go down a level. But once you do, things might get a bit… moist."

"I hate that word," Rashid says, training her glove phaser on the floor and firing.

"It's a great word in Tellarite," Pon taunts her. "Moist moist moist."

Rashid's phaser beam cuts through the floor, and a massive spray of water erupts into the corridor, eerily silent in the vacuum. She shields her faceplate. Fragments of the floor begin to tear off, narrowly missing her. "Where am I going?"

"Downstream. You'll have to be careful not to damage your suit. You won't be able to see much, so rely on the tricorder to see what's ahead of you. I estimate you'll be going at about ninety kph, for a total of about three klicks. Then you'll enter the central axis of the ship."

"Alright, I'm taking the plunge."

"Stay away from the walls!"

Rashid walks towards the breach in the floor and climbs through head-first. She is immediately thrust forward in the fast current. The roar of the water fills her ears. With her glove and boot jets, she makes micro-corrections to stay in the center of the corridor, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Ninety-degree turn to the left, coming up!" Pon warns her.

Rashid brings her arms ahead of her and activates her glove jets at full power to keep from crashing into the bulkhead, then swings her legs to the right and activates her boot jets, propelling herself to the left with the current.

"Nice one," Pon tells her. "Your muscles will be killing you tomorrow. Know what's great for sore muscles? Mud."

"Less than an hour ago you were trying to relieve me of command," Rashid says, dodging a broken airlock, "and now you want to share your mud with me?"

"Yes. Well, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. That sort of thing happens all the time on Tellarite ships." There is a hint of sheepishness in Pon's voice. "You're reaching the central axis. Once you do, you'll need to go against the current."

Rashid is carried out into a wide, vertical cylindrical area full of fast downward-flowing water. She magnetizes her boots and gloves to the wall.

"All you need to do is get across to the other side and upstream by about a hundred meters. That's where I am." She pauses. "And I hope there are no hard feelings about what happened."

Rashid climbs along the wall against the current. "I'll tell you what," Rashid says, firing her phaser to deflect a falling piece of bulkhead. "Once we get back, you and I are going to have a long talk. In the mud."

"Really?" Pon asks excitedly. "I tell you, once you've been in the mud, everything about Tellarite culture will make sense to you."

Rashid activates her boots to leap across a breach in the wall, then re-magnetizes. Suddenly, she is struck from above by the body of a Gla'hua and knocked free. Struggling against the current, she uses her boot jets to slow her fall, then angles herself towards the wall and re-magnetizes.

"Are you alright?" Pon asks.

"Just fine, just fine." She does another short burst of jets to propel herself along the wall. "I'm almost there."

"Good. Activating the airlock."

A door slides open, and Rashid propels herself towards it, seizing its lower edge with her glove. She pulls herself upwards onto a catwalk in a dry area. There is a sphere of water with yellow lights in the center. Half a dozen Gla'hua bodies lay off to one side.

"Rashid to _Icarus_. Susan, I've made it. Beam the globe to my location."

"Energizing, Captain."

Rashid takes the globe and steps forward into the sphere of water. As she propels herself forward, the globe in her hand begins to glow yellow, and suddenly snaps forward to connect with the cluster of similar globes in front of her. They change colour and glow a bright white.

"Rashid to Pon. It's done. I think the Mind has been reactivated."

"Power is coming back online. Nice work, Captain. You never cease to amaze."

* * *

"I told you, it's on the second _Icarus_! Let me contact my ship – we can help you!"

Sparks is haggard and worn from Xu'ab's interrogation. His hands are bound behind him by a black, gelatinous mass affixed to a rail at the edge of a catwalk. The catwalk surrounds a vertical passageway. When Xu'ab took Sparks here, it was filled with still water held by gravitational forces into a cylindrical shape, allowing the Gla'hua to travel up and down between decks, but now the water rushes downwards behind him. The room is circular, approximately fifteen meters in diameter, with a broken, partially open door opposite Sparks.

Xu'ab towers over him. "It is too late for that, Federation. You have disrupted the Equilibrium and poisoned the Mind of the Gla'hua."

"That wasn't us!" Sparks protests.

"Do not lie to me!" Xu'ab roars, jabbing Sparks in the gut with an ornate silver pike. Electricity courses through his body, and he cries out in pain.

"I'm telling you the truth!" he gasps. "Listen to what I'm saying."

"All of this is your doing. You come here, you bring ruin to the Gla'hua." Xu'ab shocks him again, and he grits his teeth.

"I…" he groans, spitting blood onto the catwalk. "I don't think you care whether I'm telling you the truth or not."

"I already know the truth."

"Then why am I here?" The ship shudders, and water sprays over Sparks. "What do you want me to say, Xu'ab?" he shouts.

"Tell me how to restore the Equilibrium!" Xu'ab snarls.

"You know I can't tell you that!"

Xu'ab holds the pike to Sparks for a long time, and his uniform begins to burn as his body spasms. Eventually, s/he draws the pike aside, and Sparks' head lolls to one side, eyes wide.

"You Federation are not like us," Xu'ab says slowly. "You live meaningless half-lives, devoid of purpose. Of the Equilibrium. Of anything larger than yourselves." Sparks coughs up blood. "You cannot know what eternity means, what it means to be part of a larger life. You live half-lives, just as you live in the Dry but not the Water. Let me show you how empty your life is."

S/he seizes Sparks' throat with one hand, and pushes him backwards so that his head is under the rushing water. After a long moment, Xu'ab pulls him back out, and Sparks coughs uncontrollably.

"I think," Sparks wheezes, "I think this isn't about… about the Equilibrium at all. This is about you." He looks up. "You don't give a damn about your people, your ship. You never have." He coughs up water, then says slowly, "Your ship is falling apart, but you're here. With me. Hiding. Hurting me so you can feel like you have some last shred of power. You are a coward. You… you are purposeless."

Xu'ab shoves him under the running water again. He shuts his eyes against the water's force, trying to hold his breath, struggling. Then Xu'ab's claw releases around his neck, and he falls forward, gasping. There is phaser fire coming from outside the door.

"Stay here and hold them off!" a woman shouts.

He opens his eyes. Avala climbs through the broken door, phaser rifle in hand. Her antennae point towards Sparks.

"Let him go."

Xu'ab steps forward, and she opens fire. The phaser bursts bend toward Xu'ab's pike and are absorbed into it. With a hiss, Xu'ab returns fire, and Avala runs along the catwalk, dodging. A blast from Xu'ab's pike clips her shoulder, and she drops the phaser rifle. It clatters towards Xu'ab.

Summoning all his strength, Sparks leans backwards over the rail and kicks Xu'ab hard with both feet. The alien falls forward, dropping hir pike. Avala rolls to her feet, facing Xu'ab, poised in a ready stance. Xu'ab charges towards her, but she hops to one side, then leaps onto Xu'ab's back, wrapping her arm around hir neck in a choke hold.

The Gla'hua hisses and grasps at her, hir claws tearing her uniform. Then s/he falls and rolls onto her back, and Avala pushes herself off hir in time to narrowly avoid being crushed. She scrambles for the pike as Xu'ab rolls back to hir feet and grabs Avala's boot. Her fingers wrap around the end of the pike as Xu'ab pulls her towards hir. Avala rolls onto her back beneath Xu'ab, who reaches for her with all four hands, claws extended. She brings the pike up into Xu'ab's underbelly, and Xu'ab is thrown backwards, landing on hir back. Avala climbs to her feet and holds the pike ahead of her.

Thrashing hir tail, Xu'ab roars and returns to hir feet once more and lunges at Avala. She jumps to one side and brings the pike against Xu'ab's flank, unleashing another electrical shock. Xu'ab collapses, and Avala continues to hold the pike against the spasming alien, gritting her teeth. Eventually, Xu'ab is still.

Breathing heavily, Avala drops the pike and brushes her hair from her eyes. Then she rushes to Sparks, kisses him deeply, then takes the phaser rifle and fires at the gelatinous material holding his hands. It dries, and he breaks his hands free and collapses on the catwalk.

"Come on," she says. "Alomar is outside." She wraps his arm around her shoulders and carries him to the doorway. Alomar is crouched behind a piece of rubble, exchanging fire with a group of Gla'hua.

"I've got him," she gasps.

Alomar taps his comm badge. "Alomar to _Icarus_. We have Sparks. Lock on to my signal and beam us up."

They dematerialize. Moments later, water rushes through the corridor.

* * *

"Rashid to Pon. It's done. I think the Mind has been reactivated."

"Power is coming back online. Nice work, Captain. You never cease to amaze."

Pon turns to the group of brown-scaled Gla'hua surrounding her. "Did you hear that? We have power. What's our status?"

One of the Gla'hua examines a readout at the base of a structure which supports a series of interlocking rings which glow a bright scarlet. "The Fin is returning to full capacity."

"Yes, the Fin, the Fin," grumbles Pon, striding towards the structure. "It's a gnarfing slipstream engine! I feel like I'm violating the gnarfing Prime Directive by helping you people." She shoves the Gla'hua aside. "Setting the drive to maximum output."

The ship shudders. One of the other Gla'hua announces, "The Gla'hua remains in the grip of the Old One."

"Alright, we need to divert all available power to the slipstream drive. Get it from sensors, weapons, life support if you have to."

The Gla'hua gape at her. "We must not interfere with the operation of the Hand and the Eye. It is not our function."

"WELL MAKE IT YOUR GNARFING FUNCTION!" Pon bellows. The Gla'hua get to work.

"Commander Pon, sir," ventures the Gla'hua she had previously pushed from the console. "If I may… the Mouth of the Gla'hua – what you call the power coil – I believe there is energy at the edge of the event horizon on which it can feed. If we open the Mouth, we can draw on that energy."

Pon looks at the alien. "Energy collectors. Yes. Do it."

She steps aside and the young Gla'hua taps the controls. The power coil crackles to life, increasing their output. The ship shudders violently, and the scarlet rings glow brighter and spin around each other with increasing speed.

"Make sure the structural integrity field holds!" Pon shouts. "Or the bones, or whatever the hell you call it."

"The Fin is nearly exhausted!" the young Gla'hua says.

"That's alright, we're just about there… just about…"

And suddenly, the ship is thrown loose from the gravitational well and spins end over end away from the singularity.

"The Fin is exhausted," the Gla'hua reports.

"That's alright – you've done it!" Pon claps hir on the back. "What's your name, kid?"

"Lu'ga'a, sir," s/he says.

"Well, Lu'ga'a, I believe there may be hope for your species yet." She turns to the other Gla'hua. "Congratulations, all of you – you've saved your civilization from extinction. Give yourselves a round of applause, slap your flippers… whatever it is you do."

They begin to chatter excitedly amongst themselves. One of them calls out, "And to you, Commander Pon, we owe a great debt. Your deeds will be the stuff of legend among the fin-guiders."

"Hooray." She taps her comm badge. "Pon to Rashid."

"Rashid here. Great work, Pon."

"Thanks, Captain. I'm bringing transporters back online."

"Great. Transport me to your position."

Rashid materializes next to Pon. Moments later, they are joined by the Decider and Mab'aa.

"Captain Rashid, Commander Pon," the Decider says, "We owe you a great debt –"

"You shut the hell up," Pon interrupts hir. "This entire situation was your fault. Flying that close to a black hole; what the hell were you thinking? You almost obliterated your entire species. If it were up to me…"

Rashid holds up her hand. "Enough, Pon." To the Decider, "You don't owe us anything. Will your people be able to repair the damage?"

The Decider bows hir head. "It may take many generations, but the fixers will make the Gla'hua whole once again."

"Good. I hope this can be the beginning of a long and positive relationship between the Federation and the Gla'hua."

"A new Equilibrium," Mab'aa muses.

"The Equilibrium endures forever," the Decider says. "We hatch, we eat, we shit, we spawn, we die. But we need not do so alone."

Rashid bows her head. "I am glad to hear that." She looks around. "But we need to return to our ship."

"Goodbye, Federation," says Mab'aa. "May your journey be a safe one."

"And yours," she replies.

"Remember that the fin-guiders saved your scaly asses," Pon growls to the Decider, "so maybe let them near the water a little more often. They're looking dry."

The Decider turns to the fin-guiders and bows to them, spreading hir hands. Rashid taps her comm badge. "Rashid to _Icarus_. Two to beam up." She shoots a look at Pon. "Energize."

"Come on, Captain, I'm only trying to introduce a little egalitarianism…" Pon mutters to Rashid as they vanish from the Gla'hua ship.

* * *

 _Icarus_ shudders as it passes through the temporal rift, and the helm control flickers in and out of existence under Rashid's fingers. Finally it abruptly comes to a halt, and she is thrown forward from her seat.

The damaged ship is still. She climbs to her feet and looks at the viewscreen. It is dark.

"Computer," she says, "damage report."

"This is the auxiliary computer. Main computer has been disabled by some kind of cyberattack. Extensive structural damage throughout the ship. Long range sensors offline. High levels of radiation detected. Get off the ship now."

"Oh god," Rashid says, "you're that Tellarite behavioural program that Pon installed."

"That's right," the computer replies. "The ship has become a deathtrap. Get off now."

"Sorry, but you're stuck with me for the time being," she tells it, sitting at the science console. "Can you activate the main viewscreen?"

"The viewscreen is one of the few systems that's actually working."

She stares at the pitch blackness on the screen. "Can you tell me where we are?"

"No. The stellar cartography data was in the main computer."

She runs a scan of her surroundings. "I'm not detecting any sign of stellar activity… wait, what's that?" She stares at her readouts. "Computer, what can you tell me about that object at bearing four two three, mark one?"

"That has to be a sensor malfunction."

"What do you make of it?"

"It looks like a massive singularity. Enormously massive. Approximately 9% of the mass of the entire Milky Way galaxy. It's giving off large amounts of Hawking radiation."

"There's more, too," Rashid says, a look of confusion on her face. "It looks like the basic structure of matter is different here. I'm not detecting any baryonic matter anywhere." She freezes. "I remember this from advanced astrophysics at the Academy. This is part of the process of the heat death of the universe. I think we're in the distant, distant future."

"I have no way of confirming that," the computer says.

Her console beeps. "Wait a minute. There's something there. An object. Looks like some kind of remnant of the old universe. Computer, take us closer."

The ship hums as the impulse engines engage. The viewscreen remains unhelpfully dark.

"I don't believe it," Rashid says. "It's the Gla'hua ship!"

"Its power signature is extremely weak," the computer informs her. "It looks like most of the energy is powering some sort of structural integrity field which keeps its molecular structure intact. I'm not getting any lifesigns." Rashid's console beeps again, and the computer continues, "Correction: there is something going on aboard that ship."

"Take us in."

"I'm also detecting several more temporal rifts surrounding the ship. There are subspace signals travelling between the ship and the rifts."

"What are you detecting on board the ship?" Rashid asks.

"There are several unusual phenomena aboard. There are two different types of lifesigns on the ship, both very weak. One of them is probably embryonic Gla'hua stored in cryogenic suspension."

"A clutch of eggs," Rashid muses. "Maybe the last of their kind."

"The other is harder to explain. They could be biological lifeforms, but they seem to be suspended in some kind of subspace field."

"That could be Susan," she says. "I want to beam over to the ship."

"I don't know about that. There are some strange energy signatures which I can't identify."

"What kind of energy signatures?"

"They're highly localized, and they don't seem similar at all to anything else around us."

"Rylek suggested that the Outsiders could be non-corporeal entities," she says.

"It's a possibility."

"I'm going over there. Take us within transporter range, and beam me over."

"If you say so. But it's a bad idea."

"I didn't ask for your opinion. Remind me to disable your personality subroutines when I get back." She takes the turbolift to the transporter room and puts on an environmental suit, then enters a command into the transporter controls. She steps onto the platform. "Energize."

She materializes into total darkness, and her breathing is loud in her suit. She activates the light on her glove and shines it around. She is in the chamber of the ship which houses the Mind, but there is no atmosphere and no water. A cluster of dark nodes remain in the center of the chamber, and there are more sitting on the catwalk in front of her. As she moves the flashlight around the room, she sees several dark, semi-transparent shapes, approximately the size of a Gla'hua.

She sees a strange rippling out of the corner of her eye, and shines her light on it. Her tricorder shows that it is one of the energy signatures. It is roughly oval-shaped, approximately two meters tall. There are several more of the energy fields, and they are moving to surround her.

"Hello?" she ventures.

 _Can it perceive our presence?_ comes a voice in her mind.

 _Possibly._

 _How did it come to be here?_

 _It travelled through the rift._

"Are you the entities the Gla'hua call the Outsiders?" she asks.

 _What is it?_

 _It appears to be one of the beings from the Gla'hua computer's records. I believe it is one of the Federation. The ones who appeared during the Mind Sickness Event in the Gla'hua's historical record._

 _It is like the one whose memories we are reading?_

 _Yes._

"Susan?" she asks them. "Is she here?"

 _Has it come to retrieve its comrade?_

 _That is the most plausible hypothesis._

She looks around. "Why have you taken her?"

 _Have we learned anything from our probe of their computer system?_

 _We have not yet been able to process that information._

"Your probe disabled our computer system," she tells them. "And I think you disabled the Gla'hua's computer system the same way. This 'Mind Sickness Event' you were talking about – it's your doing."

 _Does it believe that we caused the Mind Sickness Event by our probe of their computer?_

 _Impossible. We simply observe._

She looks around. "You're scientists, aren't you? You found the Gla'hua's historical record, and are studying the events from it. That's why the Gla'hua say that you appear whenever there's a disruption of the Equilibrium! Except that your methods are crude. You affect the timeline by doing it. Mab'aa was right – by observing the events, you create them."

 _Is it possible that it understands our purpose in studying this relic of the Epoch of Corporeal Lifeforms?_

 _Doubtful. This being is simply a composite of biochemical processes. We have seen no sign of true consciousness. It is not like us._

Rashid rolls her eyes, and begins scanning the dark shapes. Her tricorder registers human lifesigns. "There. That's Dr. Sorensen?"

 _Has it found its comrade?_

 _It would appear that it has._

"Send her back to the ship."

Suddenly, the Gla'hua ship begins to hum, and the Mind's nodes begin to glow yellow.

 _How has the ship reactivated itself?_

 _It must have drawn power from this creature's ship._

 _It is beginning to move – where is it going?_

 _It is heading towards one of the portals. The one which leads to the earliest point in the Gla'hua's historical record. We must leave this relic so that we are not taken with it to the early stages of the universe._

 _Should we return the specimens to their proper places in the timeline?_

 _Yes. We do not have time to reactivate every rift – send them back to the closest available point in time to where we found them._

 _This Federation creature is troublesome – what else do we know of them?_

 _Very little. Like all the species the Gla'hua encountered, they are a mere blip in the history of the Epoch of Corporeal Lifeforms. They are of no great significance._

Sorensen's shape disappears, along with the other lifeforms being held in subspace. The energy patterns also vanish. Rashid activates her comm unit. "Rashid to _Icarus._ Beam me up."

She takes one last look at the Gla'hua ship. Instinctively, she grabs one of the nodes.

Rematerializing in the transporter room, she sets down the node, takes off her helmet, and walks briskly towards the turbolift. "Report."

"The Gla'hua ship appears to have used drawn some of our power to reengage its basic systems. It is moving towards one of the rifts. Also, they appear to be sending the suspended lifeforms through various rifts. Some of the rifts are beginning to close."

"Deck 1," she says as she enters the turbolift. "I'm sending you the data I gathered over there, and flagging one of those lifeforms as Susan. Trace the rift she's been sent through; it may be our only chance to get home."

She reaches the bridge in time to see the Gla'hua ship, its power coil glowing a dull red, passing through one of the rifts.

The bridge changes to stellar cartography mode, which is eerily empty. The computer pings one of the rifts. "This is the rift they sent Susan through. But it's closing fast. We'll never make it through, even at maximum impulse."

"Shit. What about the other rifts? Try to find the one with the closest phase variance to that rift."

After a moment, the computer pings another rift, closer to them. "Here. This one is almost identical."

"Set a course, maximum impulse."

"I have to warn you that based on the data you sent me, we're dealing with massive periods of astronomical history here. That rift could still send you hundreds of thousands of years from your proper time period."

"No. It'll be close enough," Rashid says.

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Just do it."

They enter the rift, and the ship begins to shudder once more. Then it stops, and the familiar dense starscape fills the viewscreen.

"We've arrived. But with the main computer down, I can't tell you where – or when – we are."

Rashid smiles grimly. "It's alright. We're here."

"You also told me to remind you to disable my personality subroutines."

"I'll get around to it," she says. "But maybe you can keep me company until the crew finds me."

"I don't want to be demoralizing," the computer says, "but what makes you think the crew is going to find you?"

She walks towards the viewscreen and stares at the starfield. "They'll find me. Things can only happen the way they happen."

* * *

 _Captain's log, Stardate 136477.8. Dr. Alomar has treated the injured Gla'hua who were aboard our ship, and we've returned them to their mothership. We've left the Gla'hua and are now in orbit of a red dwarf, completing final repairs to_ Icarus _. I am now faced with a choice which I never imagined I'd have to make during my long period of isolation – that despite everything that the crew and I have been through, we might actually be able to continue our mission._

"It's interesting," Alomar says as he stares at a medical tricorder. "When I was treating those Gla'hua, I discovered that they can actually never become unconscious. It is a fascinating adaptation to an environment where day and night have no meaning."

He is standing over Commander Sparks and running a dermal regenerator along his arm. Rashid, standing next to him, replies, "That explains why Mab'aa was aware of their presence while he was held by them, but Susan was not."

"Did you ever tell Mab'aa about your experience with them?" Sparks inquires.

"I tried to explain it all to him, but he didn't seem particularly interested. He seems to almost consider them gods, and that they'd chosen him for some particular purpose. Even though they probably picked him more or less at random for his familiarity with how their computer system worked."

"What was it that Arthur C. Clarke said?" Sparks asks. "That any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic?"

Alomar says, "The Gla'hua are a fascinating species. Where we are constantly seeking to better ourselves, they strive above all else to say the same. And yet there they were, at the very end of the universe."

"Mab'aa said that the ship had always existed. I guess, in a way, he was right – they went from the end of the universe back to the very beginning," Sparks says.

"It doesn't make any sense," Avala interjects, sitting on a biobed nearby. "Where did they come from originally? There must be some parallel timeline where they first evolved."

"Who can say?" Alomar closes his tricorder. "Well, Commander, I'm pleased to give you a clean bill of health. Make sure you get lots of rest over the next week."

"You know," Rashid says, "I promised Pon I'd join her for a mud session. I could really use a wingman."

"Tellarite mud is legendary for its therapeutic properties," Alomar tells them. "Although the aroma is somewhat of an… acquired taste."

Sparks looks at Rashid. "A wingman, eh? Is that an order?"

She smiles. "Consider it a favour. I'll owe you one."

He stands up and stretches, then winces. "Alright, I'm in." He looks at Alomar and Avala. "Any other takers?"

They look at each other. Avala smiles. "What does it say if you're willing to prescribe it but not experience it yourself, doctor?"

"Very well. Let's go."

They enter the turbolift. "Deck 3," says Rashid.

"There's another thing I don't understand," Avala says. "So the Gla'hua ship went through the rift to the distant past, and then maybe took those eggs out of stasis to restart the species. But how did the ship know to go through the rift? You said there weren't any living crew on board."

Sparks replies, "The Gla'hua seemed convinced that their ship was a living entity and they were all parts of its body. Maybe there's more truth to that than we thought."

The turbolift door opens and they walk to the lounge, covering their noses and mouths against the stench of the mud. Pon sits naked in a large, mud-filled tub in the center of the lounge.

She grins. "You're here! All of you! Join me – you won't regret it."

The crew looks at each other. "No backing out now," Rashid tells them, unzipping her uniform.

They take off their clothes and gingerly climb into the tub.

"Ahhh," Rashid says. "That's actually really, really nice."

"Would I lie to you, Captain?" Pon asks.

"No, Pon. If there's one thing I can say about you, it's that you're consistently, brutally honest."

"Thanks." She looks at the crew. "So? What are we talking about?"

Alomar leans his head back. "We were trying to puzzle through the temporal paradox that is the Gla'hua species."

"Ah yes. I'll tell you what I don't understand – Captain, how did you know to take that computer node? The other ship had gone through the temporal rift before we even knew what it was."

"I wasn't lying when I said I had no idea what it was," she tells them, eyes closed. "All I knew was that my future self thought it was really important. That's why I grabbed it from the ship in the future, and that's why I was so adamant that we needed it."

"There it is again!" Avala says, rubbing mud on her shoulders and face. "You got the information from your future self, then passed it on to your past self. Where's the causality?"

"Temporal paradoxes," Pon grins. "They're a bitch."

The comm beeps. "Sorensen to Rashid. Captain, I'm getting some fairly interesting data from one of our probes."

Rashid opens her eyes. "I'm in the common lounge right now, Susan. Why don't you come down here and tell me? Bring Rylek with you. The computer can take care of things for now."

"On our way, Captain."

"Which reminds me, Captain," Pon says, "you've reinitialized the computer's personality subroutines! I'm pleased, but I thought humans found Tellarite computers intolerable."

"Well, I guess we sort of bonded while I was stranded."

Pon looks around. "You're all becoming a bit more Tellarite all the time."

"God help us," Alomar says.

The door opens and Sorensen and Rylek enter, then stop in their tracks. Rylek's eyes are wide.

"Come on in," Rashid tells them. "Mud's great!"

The two look helplessly at each other. Avala smiles at Rylek and slides over to make a space next to her, patting the edge of the tub invitingly. Rylek looks at Sorensen. "Perhaps it is the logical course of action."

Sorensen looks around. "Alright… in the interest of crew bonding." They disrobe and climb into the tub.

"So, Susan, what have you got?"

"I was analyzing data from one of the probes, and there's no doubt about it. The first evidence of a Class M planet here in the Core. Not only that, but based on the subspace signals emanating from the planet, I'd say it's highly likely that there's an advanced civilization there. At Warp 3, we could be there in a little over a week."

The crew looks at Rashid. Alomar says, "Zia, you've been temporally displaced, you've endured long periods of isolation, and you've had a rather visceral experience of the death of the universe. It's enough to take a psychological toll on anybody. As your CMO and your friend, I suggest that you consider returning to Federation space for rest and counselling."

She looks at each one of them, silent for a long moment. "You're right that it's taken a toll on me, and I will definitely get counselling. I can't get out of my head what the Outsiders said – that we're just biochemical processes, that the Federation is just a blip in the history of the universe. I mean, I don't think they're any different themselves… but being there, at the end, in the total darkness where even the stars themselves are dead – it really drives that point home."

She takes a deep breath. "My husband's a painter. I used to get really frustrated because I couldn't understand his work. It was so abstract, so seemingly random. Eventually I worked the nerve to tell him that I didn't understand his art at all. And he told me that he was trying to express the fundamental paradox of life – that in a very real way, there is no deeper meaning to everything we perceive, that it's really all these random processes. But as sentient beings, we see it as meaningful, as art, as something that's beautiful."

She chokes up, and a single tear runs down her face. "What we're doing out here is something beautiful. Even this moment here, with all of you, is beautiful. You don't know how much I missed each one of you. And even if there's no deeper significance to the Federation, or to my life, I still want to spend it here, with you, learning a little bit more about this beautiful part of our beautiful universe." She smiles through tears. "So we'll set a course for that planet. We'll continue our mission."

Sparks, Sorensen, and Avala smile at her in silence. Rylek swallows hard. Alomar takes Rashid's hand and squeezes it.

"But really," says Pon, "all you need is mud."

Rashid gazes out the porthole. The dense starfield shines silently.

 **That's the end of** _ **Icarus**_ **, my attempt at envisioning what a new** _ **Trek**_ **miniseries would be like on contemporary TV. Let me know what you think! Perhaps Captain Rashid and the crew will return…**


End file.
